founder today said dominick we thank god for the gift of these individuals and their contribution to the life of our church and to the sense of pastoral ministry that has evolved in their with their ministries forgive us our sins and bring us to everlasting life let us  range with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god forever and ever a reading from the book of numbers the whole congregation of the children of israel arrived in the desert and since the st man and the people settled at cash it was here that miriam died and here she was buried as the community had no water they held a council against moses and aaron and people contented with moses exclaiming with that we too had perished with our kinsmen and the lord's presence why have you brought the lord's assembly into the desert where we and our livestock are dying why did you lead us out of egypt only to bring us to this wretched place which is his neither green nor fakes nor vines nor here there is not even water to change the moses and aaron went away from the assembly to the entrance of the meeting tent where they fell prostrate and then the glory of the lord appeared to them and the lord s take your staff and assemble the community you and your brother arian and in their presence order the rock to yield its waters from the rocky shall bring forth water for the congregation and their livestock to train moses took to his staff from his place before the lord as he was ordered he an ara to assemble the community in front of the rock where he said to them listen to me rebels are we to bring water for you out of this rock th raising his hand moses struck the rock twice with the staff and the water gushed out in abundance for the people and their livestock to train but the lord said to moses and aaron because you are not faithful to me and showing forth my before the children of israel you shall not leave this community into the land i will give them these are the waters of america where the children of israel contended against the lord and where the lord revealed his saying today among men the word of the lord if today you hear his voice harden not your heart joyfully to the lord let us acclaim the rock of our salvation let us come into his presence with the thanksgiving let a story fully sing psalms to h oh that today you would hear his voice harden not your hearts as at mehrabad as the day of mass in the desert where your fathers tested me they tested me though they had seen my work lord be with you reading from the holy gospel according to m them but who do you say that i am simon peter said in reply you are the christ 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 busy peter upon this rock i will build my church and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it i will give you the keys to the kingdom of on jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders of the chief priest in the scribes and be killed and on the rd day the race then peter took jesus aside and began to rebuke him god forbid lord no such thing shall ever happen to you jesus turned and said to peter get behind me satan you are an obstacle to me you are thinking not as god but as human beings though the gospel of the lord both readings this morning speak of religious leadership hour in and moses in the st peter in the nd and obviously religious leadership not only now but back to back then had its highs and lows and it was full of many promises and yet then then there is the promises and the ideals came up to him against the harsh reality moses in our in our hand and by the people why did you bring us out of egypt why what that the promised land and then in the gospel peter receives the mantle of authority and the keys of the kingdom yet it's the same as in the st reading jesus is disappointed and disappointed in peter and also and tells him what an obstacle he is we know that this pattern persists even in the church of today one of the perpetual temptations of pastoral leadership is to let the self preservation of the church and its reputation overshadow the primary task of pastoral leadership which is to draw us ever deeper into the distinctive movement of christian discipleship from life to death to new life all of this should help us to address the question of who do you say that i  i saw something and one of the commentaries so who do you say that jesus is our faith each is that he is indeed the christ the son of the living god but each of us has to all to billy answer this question in the depths of our own hearts saint francis was overheard praying this question who are you lord my god and who are my as simple was this question sounds they are profoundly hard to answer and our answers to them change throughout our life as children we often see christ as an extension of our parents for some this image continues throughout life for most of us though the challenges and difficulties of life change who we think christ is some of us develop an image of christ as a judge mental taskmaster testing us at every turn some have their image fade to a comfortable childhood memory some of us though who see christ day by day through the years slowly find that christ is intimately with us with a closeness that continues to expand with every breath now we can not think like god but we can pray and ask that god's will might be made more evident to us who inspire us as lead us to healing and helping hand to all the people involved in those situations we pray to the lord we pray for the dominican order the man the women who are part of it as priests brothers sisters lay  whatever particular prayers their intentions are in your own hearts this morning all these prayers we make in the name of jesus christ are  lessard are you lord god of all creation for through your goodness we have this bread to offer fruit of the earth and work of human hands will become for us the bread of life attend mercifully to the prayers we offer you our lord by the intercession of saint dominic's and through the great power of this sacrifice strengthened by the protection of your grace those who champion the faith through christ the lord be with you lift up your hearts let us give thanks to the lord our god who is truly right and just as good in our salvation always and everywhere to give you  lord holy father almighty and eternal god through christ our lord for as on the festival of st dominic you did your church rejoice so to you strengthen her by the example of his holy life teacher by his words of preaching the mystery of faith we proclaim your death oh lord and that's your therefore as we celebrate the memorial of his death and resurrection we offer you lord the bread of life and the chalice of giving thanks if you have held us worthy to be a minister to humbly we pray that pray from every evil graciously grant peace in our days and by the help of your mercy you may be always free from sin and safe from all the stress as we await the blessed and hope in the coming of our savior jesus christ lamb of god they are church oh lord receive with wholehearted reverence the power of this heavenly sacrament by which we have been ours on the commemoration of saint dominic's and may your church having fairish by means of his preaching be helped through his intercession through christ our lord be with you al mighty god bless you father son and holy spirit go now in the peace