Growing up in a traditional Catholic family, my whole life revolved around the parish community. Apart from attending weekday and weekend Masses, one of the devotions that I attended quite often was Benediction, which took place every Friday night. Benediction is a sacramental rite in which the Blessed Sacrament is exposed on the altar for adoration. The rite includes incense, Eucharistic hymns, prayers, and finally, the blessing (benediction) of the participants with the monstrance. I remember attending Benediction so often that, one day, one of my friends saw me and exclaimed, “Are you an old priest?” Perhaps it was her way of saying that I was “an old head on young shoulders.” She made this remark when I was only in the seventh grade.
At these Benedictions, which I attended so often, apart from prayers of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, there was always a special prayer and a hymn designated for praying for the incumbent Pope. The hymn was called Này Con Là Đá—You Are Cephas. In fact, it was inspired by the Gospel reading for this week. The first part of the hymn quotes almost word for word from Matthew 16:18:
“Này con là Đá, trên viên đá này Ta xây Giáo Hội muôn đời vinh quang.
Này con là đá, cho muôn sức hùng Sata vẫy vùng không hề chuyển rung.”
You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church.
And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it (Mt 16:18).
The second part of the hymn was composed as a prayer for the Holy Father:
“Ta hãy nguyện xin cho Đức Giáo Hoàng …Name… Chúa gìn giữ người, thêm xuống sinh lực, và ban cho người đời này hạnh phúc. Đừng trao người cho ác tâm quân thù (X2).”
We earnestly pray for the Holy Father, …Leo… May God protect him, give him strength, and grant him peace. Deliver him from the malice of the enemy (X2).
By regularly participating in the Eucharistic devotion of Benediction and singing this particular hymn to pray for the Pope, I have been constantly reminded of the important role of the Holy Father in the Church. Indeed, it is not only on the occasions of Benediction that we pray for the Holy Father; at every Eucharistic celebration, we continually hold him in our prayers, particularly in the Eucharistic Prayers.
Needless to say, the Pope, like any other human being, is subject to human weaknesses, shortcomings, frailties, and vulnerabilities. Perhaps we are not unfamiliar with Peter, whom we embrace as our first Pope, exhibiting all these human limitations. It was not long ago that we heard of Peter sinking in the stormy Sea of Galilee right in front of Jesus. We heard of Peter cowardly denying his own Master three times when confronted by a mere servant. We will also hear, later in the Gospel of Matthew, of Peter completely missing the point when Jesus tried to tell him what kind of Messiah he was.
However, despite all these human shortcomings and limitations, we hear in this week’s Gospel that Jesus entrusts Peter with the most important role: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church.” Interestingly enough, Jesus did not establish Peter as the rock upon which He would build His Church based on Peter’s human strengths or weaknesses, but rather on his FAITH. As we will hear from the Gospel, prior to his establishment as the foundation of the Church, Peter, on behalf of the whole cohort of the disciples, made his profession of faith in Jesus: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” It was this profession of faith, granted by God —“it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven”— that led to Peter being chosen to lead God’s Church.
As we gather to celebrate the Eucharist this week and reflect on this particular Gospel message, we are reminded to pray for our Holy Father, Pope Leo:
May God protect him, give him strength, and grant him peace. Deliver him from the malice of the enemy.
May he lead our Church to be a beacon of hope for our world.
19 Brenbeal Street, Balwyn VIC 3103
Telephone: 03 9816 9291
Email: [email protected]
Office Hours:
Tue - Fri 9:00am – 5:00pm
David Rush says:
Very helpful observations on the foundations of our faith