St. John, in his Apocalypse, represents the Church under the figure of a city. “I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven, from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”(502) Our Savior is the Architect and Founder of this celestial city. The Apostles are its foundation. The faithful are the living stones of the edifice. The anointed ministers of the Lord are the workmen chosen to adjust and polish these stones, that they may reflect the beauty and glory of the sun of justice that perpetually illumines this city. The Priests are engaged in adorning the interior of the heavenly Jerusalem by enriching, with virtue, the precious souls entrusted to their charge. “God gave some, indeed, Apostles, and some Prophets, and others Evangelists, and others Pastors and Doctors, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ,”(503) which is His Church. What an honor is this to the Priest of the New Law! Surely God “hath not done alike to every nation, and His judgments He hath not made manifest to them.”(504) With how much more force may we apply to the successors of the Apostles the words which God spoke to the Priests of the Old Law: “Hear, ye sons of Levi. Is it a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel hath separated you from all the people and joined you to Himself, that ye should serve Him in the service of the tabernacle, and should stand before the congregation of the people and minister unto Him?” Our Savior affectionately puts this question three times to Peter: “Simon, lovest thou Me?” And three times Peter answers Him, “Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee.” What proof of love, then, does Jesus exact of Peter? Does He say: If thou lovest Me, chastise thy body by fasting and stripes, prophesy, work miracles, lay down thy life for Me? No, but “feed My lambs,” “feed My sheep.” This was to be the closest bond of Peter’s devotion to his Master, and of the Master’s affection for His disciple. And our Lord declares that the reward of His disciples would be commensurate with the dignity of their ministry: “Behold,” says Peter, “we have left all things and have followed Thee. What, therefore, shall we have? And Jesus said to them, Amen, I say to you that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of His majesty, you shall also sit on twelve seats, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” And immediately after He adds that the worthy successors of the Apostles shall share in their felicity: “And every one that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name’s sake shall receive a hundredfold and shall possess life everlasting.”(505)