Hello Russ, I will do my best to explain! Jesus says to Peter in Matthew 16 v. 18 "And I tell you that you are Peter (from the Greek Petros, or rock!), and on this rock (that is Peter!), I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. It is from this passage, that Christ gives to Peter the Apostolic Authority to build Christ's Church. Peter was the Apostle chosen by Christ himself giving him the authority to build Christ's Church. Peter became the 1st Pope and it is by the Apostolic succession - the laying on of hands from one Bishop to the next all through the centuries that we have the Papal succession. Beginning with Christ to Peter and then Peter to the next Bishop and so on handed down throug the centuries through the power of the Holy Spirit (and the Magesterium of the Church - that is, the teaching arm of the Church), we have the Papacy. Then immediately following the above passage, Jesus says to Peter: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Matthew 16 v. 19. It is upon this passage in Scripture that we have the understanding of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, or Confession. Christ, our High Priest, gave Peter the authority to bind and loose sin here on earth. And Christ said whatever you bind or loose here on earth will be held bound/loose in heaven. When we sin, we go to the Priest who stands "in persona Christi", again, through Apostolic Succession, he is Christ's representative on earth - the Apostolic succession of each Bishop laying on of hands during the Sacrament of Holy Orders which is handed onto him by his Bishop and his Bishop before him all the way back to Christ! It is wonderful to know that Christ's words are fulfilled even today. The grace and possibility of receiving the beautiful Sacrament of Reconciliation and receiving in persona Christi, the healing words "I absolve you from your sin..." St. Faustina recounts in her diary that the Lord said to her "When you approach the confessional, know this, that I Myself am waiting there for you. I am only hidden by the priest, but I Myself act in your soul. Here the misery of the soul meets the God of mercy. Tell souls that from this fount of mercy souls draw graces solely with the vessel of trust. If there trust is great, there is no limit to My generosity." (Diary, Notebook VI, 1602) Also, in John 6 v. 48, Jesus says "I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." This is one of the Scriptural passages that refers to the Sacrament of the Eucharist which Christ established at the Last Supper! In John 6 v. 54, Christ says "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at he last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink." The Mass is a true miracle everytime it is celebrated - the KAIROS (the fullness of time) breaks through to the CHRONOS (chronological time)- Christ becomes substantially present each time the Host is consecrated. As Scott Hahn has written, we get to experience Heaven on earth, that is Christ's glorified eternal body breaks through to chronological time and becomes miraculously present in that small host - in order to be with us here on earth! If we can eat a piece of bread and the miracle of digestion takes place transforming that piece of bread into the cells of our body, why can't Christ transubstantiate his glorified body into a piece of bread to feed our souls? Christ affirms this when he says to the Apostles in Matthew 28 v. 20 "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." How does he remain with us always? By our Baptism he has entered our souls and sacramentally, he is with us always in the Eucharist, consecrated every day, at every hour since the last supper over 2,000 years ago. St. Faustina writes in her diary "In the place of the monstrance, I saw the glorious face of the Lord, and He said to me, 'What you see in reality, these souls see through faith. Oh, how pleasing to Me is their great faith! You see, although there appears to be no trace of life in Me, in reality it is present in its fullness in each and every Host. But for Me to be able to act upon a soul, the soul must have faith. O how pleasing to Me is living faith!' (Diary, Notebook V, 1420). It is quite late for me here, so I will sign off. I hope this helps you! God bless you, Lauri Battista