Numbers 20:1-13 / Matthew 16:13-23
The word "pontifex" is usually connected to the Pope and from it comes along other connected words like pontiff and pontifical.
It comes from Latin to mean literally "bridge-maker", from "pons" which means bridge and "fex" from facere which means to make.
So the Pope's role is to be the bridge between God and man. And in many ways, we the Church are also called to be bridge-builders between God and the world and also between peoples.
Yet to be a bridge-builder or to be the in-between person is never an easy task because of the pressure and demands of both parties.
We see this in the 1st reading. Moses was caught between a rebellious people demanding for water and God to whom he had to bring up the needs of the people.
Moses was so stressed up by the role that he eventually vent his anger on the people and taunted the people as he struck the rock twice to make water gush out from the rock.
In the gospel we heard Peter proclaiming Jesus as the Son of the living God, and indeed He is.
As the Son of God, Jesus came to bring men back to God but it certainly was not an easy task. Jesus had to lay down His life in order to fulfill His mission.
The mission that is entrusted to us the Church is also to bring people back to God by being bridge-builders.
Just as it was not an easy task for Jesus and Moses, neither will it be for us.
But Jesus promised us that the gates of the underworld cannot hold out against us. We just have to follow God's way and keep building the bridges that will lead people back to God.