My heavenly Father

“He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter said in reply, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus said to him in reply, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.’” (MT 16: 15-18)  

Our Lord came to us with a mission from His “heavenly Father.” And all the time Jesus respected His Father’s will; everything in His mission was to tell us about His Father’s love for us and how important we are to Him as His children. Jesus recognized the Father’s will in every moment of His life: “For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter . . . .” 

“You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” (Gospel Acclamation)