This Sunday we encounter the Mystery of Peter. It is indeed a great mystery. When the pope came to Canada a fellow was interviewed and said, “I don’t see the big deal. He puts on his pants one leg at a time like everyone else.” Obviously he is not quite correct because it appears that the pope might not even pants. All kidding aside, that is part of the great mystery: he is a man like everyone else, grew up in a family, was not conceived by the angels, was not preserved from sin like Mary. Yet, unlike any other man on the earth, he is the only one who is persevered free from error when teaching about morals or doctrine.
To me this is a great mystery of papal infallibility. I often want to bow my head when the name of the pope is mentioned because, like Mary, this is a work of God. I honour Mary because she is the mother of Jesus and because of the way God was able to work in her. I honour the pope because he is the vicar of Christ and because God preserves him from error in the matters of faith and morals. I find this amazing because he can still sin, he still has his free will and yet, even with all that, God is able to protect him from doing that. He has done so with everyone one of his predecessors. Simply amazing.
We are blessed in this direct guidance from God. We know what pleases God and what offends Him.
The Holy Father has critics, and there are many now, but I always remind people that his critics do not have papal infallibility so if they are telling us that the pope is wrong we can know with certainty that they are wrong, as wrong as someone who predicts the end of the world. I am happy when someone says they know the time when the world will end because that tells me that it won’t end because God said no one knows that time. So I rejoice when someone has predicted it because I know for certain that it can’t happen that day. I also know for certain that when someone tells me that the pope has errored in his teaching in faith and morals, because it is impossible because God promised that. He said, “You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.
Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth with be loosed in heaven.” Furthermore He said, “Whoever hears you hears me.” No one on earth has this promise and knowing how frail man is I think it is a great mystery how it has kept in check, how 266 men could have this promise and not one of them failed There were popes that were moral failures and evil men but God even persevered them from teaching error.
These teachings are helpful for us as a people to live our lives in the fullness that God has created and violation of the Divine Law is harmful – physically, spiritually and emotionally – for us. That is why God, through the Church, teaches us these things. The Church is not trying to restrict us but to allow us to become the greatest person we could become. Just as a car manufacturer is not trying to make your life hard by telling you how your car works and what type of fluids go where. They want you to be able to drive that car as far and safely as possible.
If we simply followed the rules of the Church we would live a good natural life. We would be challenged and healthy. However, there is more than the rules. The rules are to be working with relationship with God. We can only go so far with the rules alone. Often it is necessary to have the relationship to follow and put meaning to the rules and commands of God. Many of the Church teachings are hard and near impossible to keep without the relationship. If all we think of is the, “thou shall nots,” we will miss the best part of following God. We avoid things not for the sake of avoiding, but for the sake of living. If you thought chastity is simply saying no, it becomes hard to do and you are probably always looking for what you can get away with and still call yourself a virgin. When you think of it as saying yes to stronger relationship, better discernment, less drama and true love, you might, with God’s grace, say yes to something more. Everything with God is not to rob us but to give us more. We follow His plan to get more out of life and not to live a boring live. I have heard it said that if you lined up all the pimps and drug dealers in the world you would have a room of boring people, but if you lined up the saints you would have a room full of people that really lived. Do you think Mother Teresa or Padre Pio’s lives, or any of the saint’s lives, were boring? They lived a wild adventure not knowing what to expect each day. The only thing that they knew was that God would be with them. They overcame insurmountable obstacles, did things that they never thought or dreamed was possible. You see this is what we say yes to.
One of the greatest mysteries of the faith is that God wants to take common people, like you and I, and do great things with them. He has chosen us, He has set us apart. As great as the mystery that the pope can be preserved from error in the areas of faith and morals, is the mystery that God can work great miracles and deeds in each of our lives. Yes, you and I are called to be extraordinary by His grace. That journey can start today by giving God some silent time to speak to your heart. Start with ten minutes and ask the Lord to speak. Set a timer so you don’t have to look at your watch. Ask Him to speak to your heart. That is how the adventure starts. Pray to go where He calls you to.