St. Mary Parish, Manchester at 210 West Main Street, Manchester, MI 48158 US - Where Peter is, there is the Church, there is God
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An ancient formula sums up in a few words all the teaching about the Roman Pontiff: Ubi Petrus, ibi Ecclesia, ibi Deus (St Ambrose, Commentary on Psalm 12, 40, 30).Where Peter is, there is the Church, there too is God.
The Roman Pontiff – says the Second Vatican Council – as the successor of Peter, is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful (Second Vatican Council, Lumen gentium, 23).
And what would become of this unity if there were not one head over all the Church, to bless it and care for it, and to unite all its members in the profession of one faith and join them together in the bond of charity and of union? (Gregory XVI, Commissum divinitus, 15 June 1835)Unity would be smashed into a thousand pieces, and we would wander like scattered sheep, without a sure faith in which to believe, without a clear path to follow.
We want to be with Peter, because with him we have the Church, with him we have Christ; and without him we will not find God. And because we love Christ we love the Pope – with the same charity.
And since we are attentive to Jesus, to his desires, to his actions, to his entire life, in the same way we are united to the Roman Pontiff in even the smallest details: we love him above all for the One he represents and of whom he is the instrument. You must love, venerate, pray and mortify yourself for the Pope, and do so with greater affection each day. For he is the foundation-stone of the Church and, throughout the centuries, right to the end of time, he carries out among men that task of sanctifying and governing which Jesus entrusted to Peter (J. Escrivá, The Forge, 134).
In the Acts of the Apostles we see clear evidence of the love and devotion the first Christians had for Peter: they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and pallets, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them (Acts 5:15). They were happy to make do with the shadow of Peter. They knew well that very close to him there was Christ! His word confers on us a noonday clarity in the midst of the confused welter of opinions which, today just as in former times, are proclaimed by so many false prophets and false teachers. Let us have a hunger to know the teachings of the Pope and to make them known in our environment. That is the light which illuminates men's consciences. Let us make the resolution to receive his word with internal docility and obedience, with love (cf Second Vatican Council, Lumen gentium, 25).