When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philipi he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 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 nether world shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
The Gospel of the Lord.
Simon 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 have not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father."
[Peter] had some mysterious inkling of the ultimate identity of Jesus. Every Christian has this kind of knowledge of Jesus, buried somewhere in them.
In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there will be no end." Mary said to the angel, "how can this be, since I am a virgin?" The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible for God." Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.
Simon bar Jonah is complimented "Blessed are you Simon son of Jonah", receives a new name, Peter [Roman], Cephas [Greek], Rock, will become the foundation of the Church, and receives the Keys to the Kingdom of heaven. The mural behind the altar has the Blessed Mother, Peter, the rock of the Church, on the left with his keys and Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, on the right with the scrolls.
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