554. June 29, Sts Peter & Paul (I)

Meditations no. 484 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

The hierarchical structure of the Church is willed by God.

Today we want to fix our gaze upon the Church, founded by God on earth as a beautiful spiritual edifice in which all Christians are living stones. You are no longer exiles, then, or aliens: the saints are your fellow citizens, you belong to God’s household. Apostles and prophets are the foundation on which you were built, and the chief cornerstone of it is Jesus Christ himself In him the whole fabric is bound together, as it grows into a temple, dedicated to the Lord.

Those of us who form part of the Mystical Body of Christ, having received Baptism, enjoy a radical equality. This brings with it a deeper insight of the Church as a community made up of all the faithful… such that we live solidarity as regards our one common mission, which each person must carry out in keeping with his own circumstances. The laity, thanks to the impulses of the Holy Spirit, are ever more conscious of being the Church, of having a specific, sublime and necessary mission, as willed by God. And they know that this mission stems from the fact of their being Christians… it does not necessarily come from a hierarchical mandate, although it is clear that they ought to carry it out in union with the ecclesiastical hierarchy and according to the teachings of the Magisterium. For a Catholic, there can be no union with Christ unless there is union with the episcopal body and their head, the Roman Pontiff.

Together with this fundamental equality, the Lord has willed that there be in the Church an inequality of functions. Each member is called to carry out his mission in a specific way, according to the gift he has received from God. By virtue of the Sacrament of Orders, the Church possesses a hierarchical constitution which we must all respect and love, because it is the Will of God.

My children, there is a clear and manifest democracy in the Church; there is a good democracy and one that is bad. There is a good one because once we are baptised, we are all equal as children of the same God, Our Father. It is good because tyranny is not permitted in the Church - authority itself is a service, as is obedience. Finally, it is good because there exists freedom of consciences… Not autonomy of conscience, which would mean going against the law of God, and that is a crime… rather, freedom of consciences…

A good democracy: everyone equal; never any tyranny; freedom of consciences. And a bad democracy: the protest or non serviam! That some people would like to introduce into the heart of the Church. There are people, my children, who want to implant into the Mystical Body of Christ a democracy similar to that in civil society. And they don’t realise that the Church is made up of the Pope, with the bishops, the priests, the deacons and the laity, by divine institution. That’s what Jesus wanted. In addition, now that twenty centuries have gone by, human intervention has brought in cardinals, patriarchs, archbishops, monsignors… What sort of democracy do they want, if it is a hierarchical institution? There has to be freedom, because this is a divine gift, which Jesus has won for us. But it is impossible to have democracy in the political sense. Among other reasons, because the truths of faith and morals are not determined by majority vote.

As the successor of St Peter, the Roman Pontiff enjoys Primacy over the universal Church.

From the time of his first meeting with Simon Peter on the shores of the Jordan, Jesus Christ hinted at this Apostle’s unique predilection: And Jesus, looking upon him, said: You are Simon, the son of Jona; you shall be called Cephas, which is interpreted Peter. Here was the first announcement of his Primacy over the Church; a statement to be corroborated months later, along the road to Caesarea.

Divine grace had drawn from Peter a crystal clear confession about the divinity of Christ: You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. And Jesus, answering said to him: Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona; because flesh and blood have not revealed it to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say to you that: You are Peter; and upon this rock I will build my Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever you shall bind upon earth it shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.

By these words the Lord promised supreme authority over the Church to Peter. Simon was destined to become, as his new name Cephas indicates, the rock which would sustain the building of the Church. What was Jesus trying to say by this word? What did this change of name mean? Christ was referring to the firmness, stability and perennial character that Simon Peter’s faith must have. Not only in relation to the personal destiny of Peter himself, but in relation to the whole Church, which, as Jesus added, He chose to construct on that rock. Therefore, Peter’s place within the Church is that of the rock upon which a building is constructed; and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew; and they beat upon that house. And it fell not, for it was founded on a rock .

The promise made to Peter found fulfilment after the Lord’s Resurrection, when Jesus, after asking him three times if he loved Him more than the others, told him imperatively: Feed my sheep.

Peter the Apostle was a mortal man, like all others. However, his office as supreme Pastor, instituted by Christ, must endure eternally, by the Lord’s command. For the perpetual health and perennial good of the Church, founded upon rock, that office must remain firm until the end of time. So that the Lord’s words should be fulfilled absolutely, the Prince of the Apostles would have to have successors who would exercise their supreme ministry, in Christ’s name and authority, until the end of time. Church Tradition unanimously affirms that this succession is found only in the bishops of the Holy Roman See… such that whoever succeeds Peter on this chair, by the institution of Christ Himself obtains the Primacy of Peter over the whole Church.

With the affection of faithful children, we renew before God our humble allegiance to the Roman Pontiff. He is the foundation stone of the Church, which continues the task of formation and teaching that Jesus entrusted to the first Twelve throughout the centuries, until the end of time.

The function of law and authority in the life of the Church.

The Church is the whole of the People of God, the ensemble of all Christians. Clergy and laity are gathered together in a unity of sentiments, desires and objectives. For that reason, where there is a Christian trying to live in Jesus Christ’s name, there the whole Church is present.

Since the members of the Mystical Body are so varied and diverse in their functions, God has chosen an authority who would watch over his sheep as a good shepherd, in his name and through his power. And so the Church has a hierarchical structure with a juridical order and a unity of norms. Some norms are of divine origin and others are ecclesiastical. They are the safeguard of the integrity and unity of its spirit. They have their foundation in the love with which the Church, as a good Mother, protects the earthly pilgrimage of her children. These norms can never be considered as a superstructure which suffocates Christian life. Rather, they are like orderly channels for the desires of sanctity that the Holy Spirit awakens in souls.

It is an old error to counterpoise the charismatic Church against the hierarchical Church. There is only one Church, and in it law forms part of the means for sanctity. Our Father wrote: The law, my children, is something very holy within the life of the Church. It is not an empty formula, nor a weapon to keep a tight hold on consciences, but rather a reasonable and supernatural order according to justice. It’s not just an instrument of command, but rather a light at the service of the whole Church, so as to illuminate for everyone the path of fulfilment of the great commandment of Love.

It is important that we do our best to obey these laws, along with all Christians who truly love the Spouse of Christ. We want to be faithful to the decisions of the Church Hierarchy down to the smallest details, behaving not as subjects under an authority, but with the piety of children, with the affection of those who feel and live as members of the Body of Christ.

Today a resolution of fidelity bursts from our soul. We invoke our Lord with words from the liturgy: God Our Father, today you give us the joy of celebrating the feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul; through them your Church first received the faith. Keep us true to their teaching. And, using the words of our founder, we ask the Holy Spirit to give our Holy Father, the sweet Christ on earth, the Vicar of Christ, great fortitude - at once maternal and paternal - to defend the laws of the Church, which are so little known and appreciated in these times.

We place our humble and filial readiness to always side with the Church at the feet of the Virgin, Mater Ecclesiae. At the same time we ask her to teach us to obey and love the Church more each day.