“All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me”
What power did the Apostles receive? The Apostles were the first Bishops of the Church. All the power Jesus has He gives to the eleven, and as He said in today’s Gospel, He has all power in Heaven and on earth. He extends this power in a special way to the head, Saint Peter before His passion, when Jesus said to Peter, “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.” [1] Jesus gives Peter the power on earth and in heaven to bind and loose powers of the Church that Christ founded upon Peter. All the Apostles had the power to cure people, call upon the Lord to help them, to speak in many different languages, to baptize, to forgive sins, and to recall his passion and death by bringing Christ to all in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
What does the world consider power? A worldly view of power is temporary, when others have power, we count the hours until they are gone and we can have the power. When we have the power, we count the hours, in anticipation of one day losing the power. This temporal view of power leads to jealously, envy, pride, violence and other vices. How is the power that Jesus gives the Apostles different than the power the world gives? The power that Christ gives is eternal because Christ Himself, the giver is eternal. The power that Christ gives is used for eternal things, for the soul and so it is a power that the world cannot give. Saint Augustine says, “Seek the things that are above, not the things that are on earth.” Many men seek power in the things of this earth, temporal power, a power that so often leads to the service of self. Disciples seek power in the things that are above, a power that calls us to the service of others, even if that means laying down our own life for another. For with great power, comes great responsibility.
Why were there only eleven of them? Judas had already committed suicide and was dead. The significance of mentioning only eleven was to drive the point home of what Judas had done, and to remind the readers of this Gospel the vacant spot, which was to be filled by Matthias.
What was the mission of the Apostles? Their mission, their work was to baptize and to teach the Jews and Gentiles alike. Can anyone baptize another person? Yes. Under extreme circumstances, any baptized Christian can baptize someone who is not baptized and wants to be. The person who is baptizing the other person should find some source of clean water, and after saying a simple prayer can baptize the person by saying, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Anyone has the power to baptize another person, in an extreme situation, because Jesus had issued this not just to the Apostles, but also to all. However, the Sacraments of Reconciliation and institution of the Eucharist, He reserved only for the Apostles and their successors, not to the masses.
What does Jesus mean “I am with you always”? Jesus wanted to reassure the Apostles once more that even though He was to ascend back to heaven, He was not leaving them as orphans. The new covenant, which was established by the blood of Christ, was to unite the whole world with Him. Jesus Christ is King of the Earth, and therefore it is impossible for Him to abandon His kingdom. As mentioned in the previous lesson of this packet, Jesus is with us spiritually when we are gathered in His name. He is also present in the Sacraments, and in particular, He is present at every moment in the tabernacle of any Catholic Church, body blood, soul and divinity.
How is the Mass related to what Jesus is saying in this Gospel reading? We can see the Mass all over the place in this weekend’s reading. He brings his followers up on a mountain where they worshiped, but they still doubted. For many people going to Mass, their Church has steps or is up on a hill. The steps signify the ascending to something that is holy, and leaving behind our past, our sin, and the world below. Many high altars in older Churches had 3 to 15 steps that the priest would climb to ascend to the altar. In the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, the priest waits until after the Confiteor (I confess) to ascend up the steps to the altar. The high altar is a symbol for heaven. Just as Jesus the high priest ascended into heaven, so to the priest, who is in the person of Christ, ascends to the altar at each Mass and we in spirit ascend with Him as a sign of our hope. Even with this hope, we, like the apostles, at times may doubt or struggle with Jesus being truly there body, blood, soul, and divinity. Jesus speaks to the eleven as He speaks to us when he puts those fears and doubts away reminding them that He is in full control because He has full power in heaven and on earth because He is God. Sometimes, there is a baptism celebrated during the Mass. This beautiful Sacrament calls us to remember our own baptismal promises, and to welcome in a new disciple of Christ. “By Baptism we are made a member of the Church. We enter the Church through Baptism. We are to recall our own dignity as a son or daughter of God through Baptism each and ever time we enter God’s House. The church building or House of God where we worship is an image of our heavenly home and the Kingdom of God. Since Baptism admits us to the Church and new life in Christ, each time we enter the church building, this sacred place, we are to bless ourselves with Holy Water, the sacramental symbol of our Baptism into the Church…We need Baptism for entrance into the Church, Christ’s Mystical Body, and for entrance into heaven…When you bless yourself with Holy Water, recall that you received the Sacrament of Baptism which brought you into the Church.” [2]
We see that in the Mass we experience all that Jesus asked of the apostles before He ascended. We sit at his feet, like a disciple, at every Mass, “make disciples of all nations”. Mass is universal and available in all nations. We remember our baptism, “baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” as we walk in the Church and dip our finger in the holy water to remind us of our baptism; We also remember to baptize our self and through the Confiteor (I confess) and the Credo (I believe) we renew our baptismal vows and through the Liturgy of the Eucharist, we receive the source and summit of our Faith, which only the baptized are allowed to participate in. In the Liturgy of the Word we are taught by the priest to “observe all that I have commanded you”. We learn and observe Jesus’ teachings and commandments in both the Liturgy of the Word and Liturgy of the Eucharist. We hear our priest teach us as Christ taught his followers. What Christ commanded us to do is found in the Gospel which is the pinnacle of the Liturgy of the Word. It is for this reason that we stand for the Gospel and sing Alleluia. Lastly, and probably most importantly, we see Jesus is truly with us at all times in the Most Blessed Sacrament. We truly know “I am with you always”, knowing that Christ is truly present in the holy Eucharist and is with us always, we should always pray the beautiful prayer, "May the Heart of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament, be blessed, adored and praised with grateful affection, at every moment in all the Tabernacles of the world, even to the end of time."
[1] Matthew 16:19
[2] Fr. Robert J. Fox; Reverence in Church