Tu es Petrus

"When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"  They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."  He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"  Simon Peter said in reply, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."  Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.  For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.  And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.  I will give you the keys to the kingdom of Heaven."  - Matthew 16:13-19

This week has been a whirlwind of experiences, but to summarize it, it was an intense encounter with the rock that the Church was founded upon.  Wednesday, the whole community went to the General Audience with Pope Benedict XVI, the 265th pope.  And any time one has the opportunity to see the Holy Father, to be in his presence, you have to do it.  While most of what he said was in Italian, it was still just an amazing experience to be with him, to see his great joy and life.  And the fact that hall we were in was filled to capacity with several thousand pilgrims shows the great reality of the papacy.  If it was Joseph Ratzinger, the man, giving a talk on theology, the hall would be nowhere near capacity.  Now I am not knocking the Pope here, but I am just saying, not many people in the world want to sit and listen to an old man preach on the Catholic faith.  But because of who he is as the Vicar for Christ, everyone in the hall, including myself, was going nuts.  The Pope radiates a great sense of joy to everyone in his presence, and it is an amazing experience just to be in his presence.

But to assume that seeing Pope Benedict was the highlight of my week would be a wrong assumption.  The highlight, probably one of the coolest things that I've ever done in my life, was to go on the Scavi Tour.  The Scavi Tour is a tour that brings you under St. Peter's Basilica and it was just amazing.  Our tour guide was a seminarian from England, which was just marvelous.  He knew his stuff, but he also knew why we were on the tour.  He knew why we were there because the final stop on the tour is at the bones of St. Peter.  And while there is no exact, scientific proof that shows that the bones belonged Peter himself, the evidence is overwhelming and almost any rational being would conclude that St. Peter's remains are truly there.  We had the opportunity to spend about 5 minutes in prayer with his remains, and what a gift that was.  To be with the man who Christ gave the keys to, the man who God Himself entrusted HIS Church to, was just incredible.  Words cannot describe the feeling of being in St. Peter's presence and knowing that, one day, I will continue his priestly mission by offering the Eucharistic sacrifice.  To be with the ROCK, Peter, the man who denied Christ three times, who walked on water with Jesus, who received the Eucharist at the Last Supper, who professed his love for Christ on the shore, who was the leader of the apostles.  Wow.  Without Peter, we would not be here today as a Catholic Church.  His faith, his trust in the mercy of God, and his love for Jesus should be models for us as we continue to pursue holiness.

I have a lot more things that I could have shared, but really, being with Peter has easily been the most noteworthy.  It was just an incredible experience and one that shows the great history and tradition of the Catholic Church.  Rome has been such a blessing and I will continue to attempt to share what has been going on with all of you.

St. Peter - Pray for Us!