This week’s Clergy Corner
taken from the August 23rd Bulletin:
”You’re not the boss of me” is a common phrase that became part of my repertoire while growing up. While the usage of it has waned a wee bit, it still appears now and then. Funny though, when one uses the phrase, it’s mostly done in jest. What we need to be weary of is the one who refrains from using it they might be struggling in ernst about thought, “by what or whose authority” did you ever become my Boss?
In our first reading today, the Lord God lets the master of the palace, Shebna, know that he was replacing his office with a righteous man named Eliakim. While he is not to be mistaken as the King of Judah, Shebna could be likened today to what we might consider as the office of prime minister. God would give all of Shebna’s authority to Eliakim without restriction of any kind. And God does this solely because Shebna decided to rule his God given authority in a prideful way of pleasing himself instead of all the Kingdom God had given him the responsibility to rule. It’s interesting to note that Eliakim is given the rule of his Father David the King. It should reaffirm in us that the Old Testament does continue to show us that Jesus becomes the newborn king from the line of David.
One must know undoubtedly know that all authority that any person receives is only possible to be exercised and to become efficacious only if one comes to understand that we cannot exercise this power of authority without the grace to understand that God is the the only one to receive the glory of His people because it comes from Him and through Him! PERIOD!!! ALLELUIA!!!
Finally, it’s precisely because Peter is the first one to speak and recognizes that Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God. Did he fully understand his conviction? Not at all because he relied heavily on the guidance of the Holy Spirit to carry out his mission. And because of this bit of knowledge, Jesus immediately called him “Peter, the Rock on which He would build His Church” and that any sin will not prevail against it. And so, most definitely, things may seem dire at this moment in time for both society and Church, but we certainly need to know that God wills all for the glory of His Son and, through the virtue of our Baptism, for us as well !!!
BLESSED BE GOD FOREVER
Peace, Fr Chris