8/27/2023

The readings today combine to point to the establishment of the Church, and in particular to the visible presence of the Church, especially in the person of what we now call the Pope. There is a Jewish analogy, or type, which prefigures the institution we call the papacy.
The first reading (Is 22:19-23) describes a powerful office, “master of the palace.” Shebna is the “master of the palace,” and he has messed up and is going to be replaced by Eliakim. The position of “master of the palace” is a powerful one – the second in command after the king, appointed to be “a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem” and the house of Judah (the Southern Kingdom), “when he opens no one shall shut, when he shuts, no one shall open.” This is not someone appointed just because of his talent and loyalty – those are important – but this is an OFFICE like a governor or President, and Eliakim is the person chosen by the king to replace Shebna in the OFFICE. There are signs of the office like the robe and the sash, but more significantly (since it appears in the gospel) is the KEY: “I will place the key of the House of David on Eliakim’s shoulder.”
The particular sign of the KEY appears today in the gospel, where the successor to David’s throne, Jesus, can be seen as appointing a second in command. That is Simon bar Jonah who is given the new name of Peter (rock) by Jesus. If you see Jesus as a successor to David, as the gospel of Matthew does, it would seem natural that he appoint someone as second in command and give that person great power, while at the same time expecting him to be a father figure to the people. That is in fact what the word for “Pope” in Italian, Papa, means. Only the accent on the word distinguishes Papa (Holy Father or Pope) from papa’ (father) in Italian. What Jesus is doing is not just appointing Peter, but Jesus is creating an OFFICE, a position which holds great power and responsibility as leader of the Church on earth.
Jesus has come to save us, but part of the process is to found a Church (= Body of Christ) which will grow and endure through time. That Church will be Incarnate – embodied – not just spiritual. It needs a visible organization, and Jesus is in the process of founding that institution while He is here on earth. So he establishes an OFFICE of the papacy to be filled by His representative. An embodied Church needs to have an embodied leader after Jesus ascends to heaven. That is first Peter, then Linus, Cletus, Clement, etc. It is an OFFICE with successors that is part of an institutional Church that He is founding. The first passage from Isaiah 22 describes a type of what will be fulfilled in today’s gospel where Jesus, as successor of David, is organizing His Kingdom and ensuring its survival. We believe that the institution which Jesus founded is the Catholic Church.
This makes sense if you think about it. In America, our forefathers wrote up their ideals in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. But they did not just publish their ideals and say, “Everyone, read this and follow what is written.” Rather, they created a system of government with three branches and gave each checks and balances, dividing authority between executive to enforce laws, legislative to make new laws, and judicial to interpret laws. That way the branches could keep one another honest, and there would be an authority to settle disputes and decide on the best interpretation of the founding documents. This was not some ideal system, but a practical, incarnate institution to keep order according to the ideals written in the Constitution and Declaration of Independence.
Until Christ comes in glory, we need an embodied, incarnate institution to represent the Body of Christ on earth, to keep order and preserve the Truth of the gospel. The existence of the Pope flows naturally and scripturally in fulfillment of the OFFICE of “master of the palace.”

Father Albert, O.S.B