A reading of the holy gospel according to Saint Luke. That will be subject to revision. It is from Saint Matthew. That was the vigil mass. See, this is a very important feast in the Holy Roman Catholic Church, the feast of Saint Peter and Paul.
So the gospel reading for this mass is from Saint Matthew. When Jesus came to the neighborhood of Caesarea Philippi, that's up in the Northern part of Galilee. He asked his disciples this question, who do people say that the son of man is? They replied you see how contemporary is this question is? Who is Jesus Christ?
They replied, well, some say John the baptizer, others Elijah. Still others say Jeremiah or one of the prophets. And then Jesus said to them, and you, who do you say that I am? And Simon Peter answered, you are the Messiah, the son of the living God. Jesus replied, blessed are you, Simon, son of John.
No mere man has revealed this to you but my heavenly father. I, for my part, declare to you, you are rock. And on this rock, I will build my church, and the jaws of death shall not prevail against it. I will entrust to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you declare bound on earth shall be bound in heaven.
Whatever you declare loosed on earth shall be loosed in heaven. And this is the gospel, the good news of the lord. Praise to you, lord Jesus. In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, amen. This text from the gospel reading today, as you all realize, is the is the fundamental charter of the church of Jesus Christ.
There is no question about the text, the authenticity, the integrity. There is not and the the the literal, the obvious meaning is also very clear. Everybody agrees to that. And if the words are not to be taken literally, then you have a lot of squirming to do to try to give some kind of an allegorical or metaphorical meaning to them. I can well remember when the great question was or rather the great denial was, Peter and Paul never came to Rome, or rather not Peter.
Paul, that's beyond dispute. And there was a great fuss about it. And that was taken at and there was no really positive evidence of of p Peter coming to Rome, that he was buried under Saint Peter. That was for the birds. Where is the evidence?
So the whole idea of Christianity, it was thrown out. I've actually met people argue this way. This is not what's going on now. This what this I'm going back forty years about. Alright.
In your lifetime, relatively in recent times, at great expense excavations were made. Two points as regards those excavations under the present Church Of Saint Peter. First thing, nothing negative has ever been discovered. In other words, nothing has been discovered to reject or contradict the presence of Peter in Rome. Point number one.
That doesn't prove, but that but it can disprove. And there is no evidence had that has been unearthed which contradicts the proposition that Peter came to Rome and was buried under Saint Peter, the present Basilica. That's point number one. Point number two, as far as I've been able to follow, the result, consequences of these excavations, which were done by internationally recognized scholars, anthropologists, everything about them points to the fact, fact, of saints Peter and Paul being buried there. It's apt it's not apodictic.
We didn't find any bones with a signature of Peter and Paul on them. But what was found corroborates and gives plenty of evidence that the tradition of Peter and Paul being buried under that great basilica, that that tradition is lodged solidly in history. Now what was the consequence of this? What did the people who who who rested their case on the proposition or the negation about Peter and Paul, when this evidence was turned up, what happened? The answer is nothing.
Nothing. It's as if it never had happened. And this is the this is this is par for the course. This is the way it goes. Now that's point number one I want to make.
The today, the the ancient tradition of the church, that Peter and Paul rest under that great basilica, that tradition, first, has not been disproved, and secondly, everything that we have found corroborates it. And plenty has been found. Plenty has been found. Point number two is this. Saint Paul emphasizes that he got the news, the good news, not from any apostle, and he certainly didn't get it from any book, but that he got the message of the good news directly from God.
Saint Paul emphasizes this. This is not an interpretation. He says this explicitly that he did not get what he has. He did not get it from any apostle. He got it by direct revelation.
Yet. Yet. When the chips were down, when controversies rose in the church chiefly over circumcision, which was the which which was simply the focus of the big question of whether you had to become a Jew before you became a Christian or follower of Christ, when that became a burning, divisive question in the primitive church in the in the earliest days of the church, Paul, in spite of his direct revelation from God without any dependence upon the apostles, what did he do? He sent back decision of Peter would be about this very controversial issue. Today, among the people who in many instances are fervently religious, the concept of the church is fervently ignored.
Fervently ignored. They don't need any church. Most of these fundamentalists, all they need is what they call the bible, which, of course, they read in English. And remember, English is not the word of god. It's some man's interpretation of what the word of God says.
Keep that in mind. They rest their case on what they call their faith. And I'm saying this without any cynicism. I'm really stating the fact that they are overwhelmingly convinced and persuaded that they have some kind of a direct line with god. They do not think the idea of church is important or of history or of priesthood or sacrifice.
No. And yet you come back to this text which is in their bible. Thou art Peter, and upon this rock that, see, Christ called him patriots. Upon this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. In the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit.
Amen.