21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (Fr. Francis)

“You are Peter and, on this Rock,, I will build my Church and the gates of the netherworld will not prevail against it.”

Today’s readings remain us that God is the Source of all authority. God shares His authority with elected civil rulers to serve the people and with the Pope and the other Church leaders for the material and spiritual welfare of His children.

The first reading, taken from Isaiah, tells us how God hates unfaithful and selfish officials. He removed the proud “master of the royal palace” from his office, taking from Shebna the power and responsibility of which he had proven unworthy, and gave both to the humble and faithful Eliakim. The robe, the sash, and the keys are the insignia of this office. In today’s Responsorial Psalm (Ps 138), David thanks God for having raised him from lowly origins and given him authority as king over the people of Israel. In the second reading, St. Paul praises God for the depth of His wisdom, knowledge, and correct judgments, asserting that He is the Source of all authority on earth and in Heaven. Today’s Gospel passage shows us how Peter confesses Jesus as his Lord and Savior and how Jesus, in turn, approves Peter’s words and gives him teaching and ruling authority in his Church. Thus, Jesus establishes a “Magisterium” in his Church to serve the spiritual and physical needs of the Church members.

Christ told Simon that his name would be Peter, which translates as “Rock.” Why call Simon the fisherman “Rock”? Receiving a new name meant that the status of the person was changed, as when Jacob’s name was changed to Israel or Abram’s name was changed to Abraham. But no Jew was ever named “Rock.” In the rest of the New Testament, Simon is called by his new name, Peter. Jesus also promised that the Church would be founded, in some way, on Peter and the gates of hell would not ever prevail against this Church. Then two significant things were told to Peter: “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Here Peter was given the authority on earth to forgive sins and govern this Church founded upon him by Christ. In the eighteenth chapter of Matthew, the Apostles would be given similar power, but here Peter received it in a special way. Christ promised Peter alone: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” Keys represented, in ancient times, authority. So, then, to be given the key to a city meant to be given authority over that city. Heaven itself, or the New Jerusalem, is the city to which Peter was given the keys. This symbolism for authority was used in our first reading from Isaiah, where Eliakim was given authority symbolized by the keys, which meant he was second only to the king, more like a prime minister, and he could act on the king’s authority. Peter and his successors, the unbroken line of popes, are second only to our King, Jesus Christ.

There is overwhelming evidence in the New Testament that Peter was first in authority among the Apostles. Whenever they were named, Peter headed the list. Peter was the one who generally spoke for the Apostles. Peter worked the first healing miracle in the gate of the Church, recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. Jesus asked Peter alone to strengthen his brethren, and Peter is given Christ’s flock to shepherd. John’s Gospel says that Mary Magdalen ran to tell Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved about the empty tomb on Easter morning. Peter headed the meeting that elected Matthias to replace Judas, and, on Pentecost, Peter preached the kerygma and received the first converts through baptism. Peter led the first council in Jerusalem and pronounced the doctrinal decision of the council, where James discussed the pastoral application of the decision. Peter received the revelation that Gentiles were to be baptized and accepted as Christians. Peter’s preeminent position among the Apostles was symbolized at the very beginning of his relationship with Christ as recorded in today’s Gospel, and this authority is passed down through apostolic succession to the bishop of Rome, Rome being the city where Saint Peter was martyred for the Faith and where he led the Church for many years.

The teaching authority of the Pope in conjunction with the bishops is derived directly from Christ. We can be comforted in knowing that when the Pope makes a ruling or pronouncement, or promulgates a teaching on faith and morals, that the teaching comes from Christ and is prompted by the Holy Spirit. The most comforting words in this Gospel reading today are Jesus promising that the gates of the netherworld (hell) will never prevail over his Church founded upon the Rock, Peter. There have been many attacks on the Church’s teachings over the centuries, but none have caused the slightest change of the teachings of Christ through his Church. I strongly urge us to get to know this Church of ours in a new way.

I challenge all to come to know what she teaches but more importantly why she teaches it. Strengthen your faith with the knowledge of the truths of the Church about how to live according to Jesus’s teachings. There are valid answers to moral questions, both in Sacred Scripture and in Sacred Tradition, that have been and continue to be taught by the Pope and bishops together, the teaching authority of the Church (the Magisterium). There are answers to the questions of our salvation and on why we honor the saints and Mary; there are answers to why we worship God at Mass and how we receive God’s graces through the reception of the sacraments. There are answers to questions on Church teachings on the sinfulness of abortion, euthanasia, same-sex marriage, sex before marriage, and contraception. The answers are there and we can look for them through Catholic adult-education classes, Catholic Scripture commentaries, and Catholic websites, in union with the teachings of the Holy Father, that promote the Catechism of the Catholic Church and help explain the teachings therein.

I urge all to fall in love with this Church of ours, this Church of our Lord, Jesus Christ, founded upon Peter and the Apostles. Even with all the warts and failings of some leaders throughout her 2000-year history, the Church has survived and even thrived because Christ has provided his grace that saints be raised up in the Church to preserve his love for us and show us examples of how to live — not only because the gates of hell will not prevail over the Church, but also the Church will storm those gates and keep evil at bay —- and God’s grace will prevail over all things of this world and also of the next world — the world of the New Jerusalem — God’s heavenly city. May Jesus wrap all of us in his most healing love, and comfort us in our sorrow, that the joy of his life in which we share will come to us all through his One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, the only place on earth we can receive him, body, blood, soul, and divinity, in the Holy Eucharist. The only place we can be truly forgiven by Christ for our offenses against God and others. The only place we can rest in the knowledge that the Church founded upon the Rock, Peter, is our very own Catholic Church.

Fr. A. Francis HGN