FROM THE PASTOR’S DESK
Dear Beloved St. Mary’s Parishioners,
If someone asked you, “Why are you Catholic?” How would you respond? It’s an important question for us to reflect upon. Why are we Catholic, as opposed to another religion? If you drive around Vacaville, there are plenty of other options to go to on a Sunday. If you go down the street, there will probably be a better, more exciting preacher. Another church may have a livelier youth group or play more catchy contemporary music. You may even find funner activities, more comfortable chairs instead of hard, wooden pews, and even a coffee shop when you walk in. Why do you keep coming to the Catholic Church each Sunday? After all, the Catholic Church can seem strange. The moment you walk through the front doors, the inside smells of incense. The choir chants strange words in ancient languages, like Latin and Greek. And most bizarrely, their priests wear strange flowing colorful vestments, rather than a suit and tie, muscle t-shirts or skinny jeans.
Growing up in a Filipino household, if someone were to ask me that question, “Why are you Catholic?” I probably would have simply shrugged my shoulders and said, “My parents”. For most of us, the faith was passed on to us by our family. We’re Catholic because generations before us were Catholic or we come from cultures and countries that have been profoundly shaped by the Catholic Church for centuries. For that, we must be grateful. In our current climate of options, our answer to the question of “Why are you Catholic?”, must be deepened. It has to be stronger than “Because I was raised Catholic.”
Today’s Gospel provides us with one such response to this important question. I am Catholic because Jesus founded the Catholic Church. Talking directly to Simon son of Jonah (the name of St. Peter before Jesus changed it), Our Lord said to him, “Blessed are you… For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, buy 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.” (Cf. Matthew 16:18). From that moment on, Peter would become the first pope. Our current pope, Pope Francis is the direct, 266th successor of this moment in Scripture. No one else can lay claim to an unbroken line of succession. Just on human standards alone, 2,000 years of continuous pedigree is impressive and unparalleled. For the first century Jewish person, hearing the words of Jesus Christ to the new Peter, they immediately understood the profound meaning. He’s evoking Isaiah 22, the only passage of the Old Testament where the word “key” is mentioned. The key to “binding and loosing” have very specific, technical significance in the Bible. He who has the keys has the authority to determine matters of halakha (in Hebrew, it means “behavior” or “how one behaves”), which is the practical application of divine law. In other words, Jesus gives Peter and his successors his authority on earth to guide the Church. Without the “keys'', everyone becomes an authority in and of themselves. I determine what is true. What is correct. Eventually what we’re left with is a confusing plethora of options. Why am I Catholic? Because Jesus Christ founded the Catholic Church. He promised this Church will never be destroyed. Why would I go anywhere else?
A Slave of Jesus Christ,
Fr. Brian J. Soliven
