Friday...Foto...Faith

The Lawn Guest House, Gatwick, England

When I was thinking about a photo to post for this Friday...I started thinking about how the Pope is visiting the UK and that brought back a memory of when Stephen and I went to England in 2000 and stayed at this really quaint B&B near the Gatwick airport. I couldn't remember the name, but when I did a Google search and this picture popped up...I thought to myself "that's it!". I'm pretty positive this is the B&B we stayed at. It was super affordable, the owners were really nice and they made an awesome breakfast in the mornings. I also love the Victorian architecture of this house. So funny story about this house and that trip. The house was only about 300 yards to the main line rail station which we hopped on a train and went into London about 40 minutes away. Stephen and I spent the entire day and evening touring the sites in London. We even happened to catch an American NFL game at a pub downtown...the Patriots and Vikings were playing. I was worried though that we would miss the last train going back to Gatwick. So we made sure we were on that train. It was super late and we were both tired. Stephen told me to go ahead and nap and he would make sure we got off when we made it to our stop. Well....Stephen fell asleep on the train too! We slept right through our station stop and rode the train all the way back to the airport! Whoops! So once we got to the airport (I was so mad at Stephen for falling asleep too!) we took a cab back to our B&B. Since it's a house, we had to enter through the front door (our room was all the way on the top floor) so we were trying to be quiet as to not wake the other guests...but it was dark and we had so much trouble unlocking the front door! The keys were these old fashioned keys. We finally got it unlocked. What a memorable night!

This Foto and story about the keys, and the Pope's visit to the UK all made me think of this verse:
"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven." Matt. 16:19
As a Catholic I believe this verse Jesus shows us the tie to establish the Davidic kingdom forever on earth and the "keys" undeniably represent authority, that Jesus gives Peter authority on earth over the new Davidic kingdom. Catholics believe like in the old Davidic kingdom it is preserved through a succession of representatives - so therefore Peter would have successors and the keys would be passed on.
 
The Pope is in the United Kingdom to help promote the Re-Christianizing of the European continent. Europe is being taken over by Islam. The Pope said today:
"Among the differing gifts which Saint Paul lists for the building up of the Church is that of teaching (cf. Rom 12:7). The preaching of the Gospel has always been accompanied by concern for the word: the inspired word of God and the culture in which that word takes root and flourishes...I urge you to lead lives worthy of our Lord (cf. Eph 4:1) and of yourselves...There is only one thing which lasts: the love of Jesus Christ personally for each one of you. Search for him, know him and love him, and he will set you free from slavery to the glittering but superficial existence frequently proposed by today’s society."
As Christians we all need to unite and keep spreading the good news of the Gospel because in this world there still remains millions of lost and unbelievers.
 
"By your work you show what you love and what you know." - St. Bruno
 
I love the Lord. So today I am thankful from the message from the Pope, who holds the keys, to encourage and remind me as a Christian on what is most important, and that is sharing Jesus' love.