February 22, 2018

Gospel: Mt 16:13-19
After that, Jesus came to Caesarea Philippi. He asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They said, “For some of them, you are John the Baptist; for others Elijah, or Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” Jesus asked them, “But you, who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “It is well for you, Simon Barjona, for it is not flesh or blood that has revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And now I say to you: You are Peter; and on this Rock I will build my Church; and never will the powers of death overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you unbind on earth shall be unbound in heaven.”

Reflections
BE AN EXAMPLE TO YOUR FLOCK
Pope Francis has many pastoral admonitions — He tells the Bishops to be Pastors rather than airport bishops. He tells them and all pastors to be with their sheep and actually should smell like their sheep. This is one way of saying be an example to your flock. You should not be a distant figure admonishing
them just from the pulpit. They must see their pastor as a human being like them, struggling to be good, sometimes failing, always rising again. Being an example does not mean one has to be perfect. But people should see that one is really trying to walk one’s talk. As a teacher for many decades, I know that the students are very observant and know which teachers do not practice what they preach. When they look back to their student days they realize that they learned most not from the most brilliant but from those who taught them by example how to be good human beings.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2018