Reading: 1 Peter 5.1 to 4 / Ps 22 / Mt 16.13-19
SCHOOL OF HOPE
Over forty years ago, in a historical moment when Western culture was trying to break free from the powers that be felt in a freely competitive, Paul VI was the courage to express in words the meaning of the feast of the Chair of St. Peter: "It's up to us, believing, hoping and loving, make up, according to our art, continually blind man light, the bread man hungry, angry man of peace, support the sick man, comfort the suffering man, the man desperate hope, the child the joy of goodness, the young energy of the asset. If there is a crisis in the world today, it is the hope, that ignorance of the purpose for which it is worthwhile to employ the enormous wealth of resources, of which modern civilization has enriched, but also heavy, human life. We are the guides. We are the ones that have the purpose of science. We must be masters of Hope "(Homily at the Mass, February 22, 1968). These words offer us a unique perspective from which to view today's liturgical feast, which invites each Christian community to recognize in the Rome office and the benchmark security for its faith in the Gospel.
The power received by the Apostle Peter, who first recognized in Jesus of Nazareth "the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Mt 16:16), does not translate into authority it seeks to regulate human freedom, but in a service aimed at preserving the freedom of God who, through the "sufferings of Christ, want to make all of humanity 'share in the glory to come" (1 Peter 5:1). No escape from memory the fact that the "rock" (Mt 16:18) in which solid and secure, "Simon son of Jonah" (16:17) has received the promise of the "keys of the kingdom of heaven" (16, 19) is a place where "no meat or blood "(16:17) giving the right to be and to stay. Peter himself had to make a painful process of stripping in front of the mercy of Christ to be able to return, to become a true model "of the flock" (1 Peter 5:3) able to "strengthen the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32) in the hope of the Gospel.
Enchanting can be the memory of the monument to the Chair of which lies in the apse of the Basilica of St. Peter by Bernini realized in the form of a great bronze throne upon which stands out the window into alabaster depicting the dove of the Spirit. In this image are condensed all the way today's evangelical liturgical celebration. The disciples of Christ throughout the world are pleased to have the bishop of Rome a visible point of reference for their faith and a sign of unity with each House who confesses faith in the gospel. But while they do not forget that "there is no reason was given for one that had to be communicated to all" (Leo the Great), that such authority is not so much the management of a privilege, as the case of a mercy. That mercy which Peter, the first among the apostles, had the grace to experience through the action of the Spirit. What prevents even the "powers of hell ' (Mt 16:18) to shake the chair of Peter is the faithfulness of God which flows from the paschal mystery, and that enables every Christian to interpret his life as a generous service to be implemented "not under compulsion but willingly, as God wills "(1 Peter 5:2), and to place themselves in front of others" not as masters "(5.3), but as collaborators with joy (cf. 2 Cor 1.24), teachers of hope.
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