June 13, 2024 Daily Dose of Discernment

"You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it." (Matthew 16: 18)

"Tu es Petrus, et super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam Meam." That's what's written in my Episcopal seal which is Latin for what Jesus said to Peter in the verse above. I saw that Latin phrase on one outside wall of a cathedral before I was consecrated bishop, and I knew that was going to my seal.

What will overcome death and its power is not people, although God may use them to conquer in His power. I put my trust in that power rather than in my ability and understanding in shepherding the flock he entrusted to me. As one paraphrased translation puts it, "Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these 'nobodies' to expose the hollow pretensions of the 'somebodies'?" Because His ways are higher than our ways.