By Col Dencio Acop (Ret), PhD
How do the Popes since Saint Peter impact your faith?
The reality of the Popes from Saint Peter to the present time strengthens my faith and encourages me to evangelize without fear. That the Lord Jesus Himself commissioned an imperfect human being to build up His church on earth still boggles the mind. The fact that Jesus Himself gave Peter the authority to spread the good news throughout the world authenticates Catholicism as the one true faith. The Lord Himself, the Incarnate Son of God, is the source of all teaching passed on by Peter and his successors. How wonderful is that!
To know that we are headed in the right direction because it was the Lord Himself who pointed us in that direction. Through Peter and the rest of the holy fathers who came after him. This means that all we believe comes from the Author of all truth. Only passed on to Peter as Jesus had to ascend to the Father. Then the same truth had been passed on by Peter to the long line of papal successors through the centuries. To safeguard it and not allow people who heard it to be misled into error and miss the goal of heaven. I think anyone would want to follow the truth and avoid being hoodwinked. I for one would not have wanted to fall in love with a woman who did not truly love me. As a person who once served in the army defending our freedom, I would not have wanted to serve under a leader who did not have the best interests of the nation in his heart.
Having found the truth handed down by the Popes from Saint Peter, don’t we feel the joy that comes from such wonderful knowledge? From knowing how to live a life that not only brings true joy while still on earth but leads us to our eternal home in heaven? Doesn’t such powerful testimony want us to share it with others as well so that they too can be with us in the Father someday? And not have to entertain any doubt about its authenticity because we already know that what we believe in is true. The life of Jesus is actually easy to share with others because it is the story of a man who was like us. Who lived like us. Not even as a privileged person but one who was poor and lived among the ordinary masses. One with whom we can definitely relate to. And how can anyone who hears that story not be won when it is a story filled with human triumph over adversity? A life of simplistic joy amidst the materialistic turmoil of this world. Of love over death. It is this story of redemption and salvation that has been continually shared by the Popes since Peter. The same story circulates today from the streets of the poor masses through the corridors of power. To whoever dares to listen. Ironically, even for their own good to those who wish not. For Jesus came with a message of inclusive love, not just an exclusive one.
And that is why I never flinch when sharing the same story that has become my faith wherever I could, including social media or through the airwaves. I almost have the confidence of that blind prophet from the ‘Book of Eli’ towards boldly proclaiming the word of God to anyone. Secure in the thought that the word of God can withstand any scrutiny commissioned by man. Confident that if any adversity befell me, the angels of God would have carried me away from harm’s way. That I would not taste death until my appointed hour from God would have arrived. And not until my assigned mission from Him would have been accomplished in its entirety. In His time.
