*Homily delivered by Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio G. Cardinal Tagle at the Mass to mark Pope's Day at the Manila Cathedral on June 29, 2016.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, dear friends, welcome to the Manila Cathedral, the Metropolitan Cathedral and Basilica of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. It is good for the people of God to be gathered on this solemnity of the great apostles Peter and Paul. Our gathering is our profession of the faith, the belief, that the Church is truly apostolic, founded on the apostles, and it is truly church if it is missionary in spirit and in action.
Our gathering is made special by the presence of our beloved apostolic nuncio to the Philippines, His Excellency Most Reverend Giuseppe Pinto. Thank you very much Your Excellency, for presiding at the Eucharist.
And we are blessed also by the presence of our brother bishops, most especially the eminent, the Eminent Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales.
We thank our brother priests, the religious men and women, the members of the diplomatic corps present tonight, the papal awardees, the seminarians, and those beloved by the Lord, the poor, the suffering, the sick, and our dear brothers and sisters with disabilities, the deaf, and, yes, thanks to the media people, too. Thank you for coming.
The celebration of the Solemnity of Peter and Paul, or what we call Pope's Day in the Philippines and all over the world, occurs within the Year of Mercy, the Jubilee of Mercy. So allow me to reflect on how the greatness of Peter, the Rock, and of Paul, the great missionary or apostle to the nations, how their greatness is really a manifestation of God's mercy.
We learned from the readings and from the testimony of Peter and Paul that true greatness happens only when we are open to God's mercy. And that is the only point I would like to develop, only one point for our reflection.
Let us start with the Gospel from St Matthew, Jesus asking the disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" And then the question, "How about you, who do you say that I am – you who have been with me, how have you known my person, the person of Jesus?" Jesus did not ask for an explanation of his discourses or of his homilies, of his sermons. The question he asked, "Who am I? Do you know me?" And of the different answers, Peter gave the profession that will become the cry of faith of the Church, in all places and at all times in history: "You are the Christ." But not just the anointed Christ; "You are the Son of the Living God."
But before Peter could become proud, before Peter could ascribe to himself, to his talent, the credit, before he could claim the credit for himself, Jesus said, "Blessed are you, Simon, son of John." And where does the blessing of Simon come from? Jesus says, "For flesh and blood," meaning human beings, human nature, "has not revealed this to you." So Peter, you are not blessed with a great intelligence. Peter, you are not blessed because you are humanly capable of reading the truth about who I am. Jesus seems to be saying, "Peter, I know you. You have been my student these past years. I know your capacity. You are not capable of giving that answer. But you are blessed because this has been revealed to you by my heavenly Father."
Faith is not a product of human intelligence, human research. Faith is a gift of the heavenly Father.
If we come to faith, it is simply because the Father has been merciful to us. Of course we try to understand the faith, to study it, but faith in itself is not our doing. It is a manifestation of God's mercy, especially to Peter and, we know, to Paul; Paul, who did not deserve that revelation, for he had persecuted the followers of Christ. But by God's mercy, the risen Lord revealed himself to Paul. Their being faithful disciples was a product of God's mercy.
Then, Jesus says, "I say to you, you are Cephas, you are Peter." Jesus gave him a name – a name that never existed before; a name that is not used for any human being. Imagine, you are called Rock. Will you name your child "cement," "brick," "adobe"? Jesus says, "You are Cephas, you are Peter. Even your name is not your achievement. Your name is my gift to you."
Our world today is made up of people who want to make a name for themselves, and the more people we have of that type of thinking, "I want to make a name for myself," nothing is built up. Jesus must give a name. "And upon this Cephas, upon this Rock, I will build my Church." "Peter, you will not build my Church. I." If the Lord does not build the house, in vain do the builders labor.
Maybe that's the reason why we cannot construct many things. We are claiming the name of constructor: "I will build it up." No! We are just hopefully the little stones, the little rocks, on which Jesus, in his mercy, will build up the Church. Not our name, not making a name for ourselves, let us receive a name, and the mission as God's merciful gift to us, so that God, in Jesus, could build up the community.
But in the First Reading, we saw how the mission of Peter to be the professor of faith, and as the one sent by the Lord, this mission was met by a lot of trials and difficulties. Peter was arrested, kept in prison, so that King Herod could pacify some of those who were against the Christian faith. But on that very night, when Herod was to bring Peter to trial, when Peter was secured doubly, in prison, God showed his mercy. An angel came, released Peter, so that he could go out and do his mission.
And look at the realization of Peter. Peter did not say, "Finally, I am free! I will go to Herod and say, "Look, you cannot keep me down." “No,” Peter said, "I know for certain that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from the land of Herod." It was not just the beginning of his calling but the performance of his mission that was under the mercy, the goodness, of God.
It was the same experience of Saint Paul. In the Second Reading, in the Second Letter to Timothy, towards the end of his life, filled with a lot of persecution, of hardship, when his life was already being poured out like a libation, Paul has this to say: "The Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me, the proclamation might be completed."
The two great apostles were great because God, in his mysterious ways, was merciful to them. And these two weak sinners welcomed the mercy of God, did not resist God's mercy, did not persevere in pride, in self-promotion, improving themselves, but humbly received God's graciousness. That made them great, and that made them the foundation of the Church continuously being built up by Jesus Christ.
My dear brothers and sisters, in different ways and in different states of life, we are all called to be apostles. We are also called to be the rock on which families, neighborhoods, hospitals, schools, shelters for the abandoned and the abused, parishes, dioceses; we are called to be the rock, stone, not because of our innate capacities, but because God trusts in us; God, whose mercy never ends.
We hope that we would have more great Filipinos who will attain to greatness not because they sought a name for themselves, but because they were open to God's mercy. We need God to reveal God's wisdom to us. We need God's naming and commissioning so that God could build his Kingdom. We need God to protect us from dangers. We need God.
Anyone who says, "I can do it by myself, I don't need God, I don't need others," well, you are not rock. You become sand. And it is not a good foundation on which to build.
Peter experienced one more sign of mercy in the First Reading. While he was in prison, the Church prayed fervently for him. The Church prayed to God on his behalf. As church, as a living community, let us pray for Pope Francis. He ends his discourses, homilies, and greetings, with those words that have become too familiar to the world. It's almost like a slogan or a cliché: "Remember to pray for me."
But he means that. He means that. It is not for show. He means it. And whenever he says that, we are face to face with Peter. He may not be imprisoned. But Peter and all his successors definitely meet with trials, and they know, they have become Peter because of God's mercy. And they can do their mission only by God's mercy and the loving prayer of the community.
The last time I met with the Pope in Rome, as he was leaving me, to the elevator closest to his room, he said – you could see the heart of the person – he said, "Please greet your parents for me." I said, yes. And then he said, "Hey, do not forget to pray for me."
Peter asked it, and the Lord promised him, "I will pray for you." Let us join our head, Christ, in praying for Peter.
