Is. 22:19-23; Ps 138:1-3, 6, 8; Rom. 11:33-36; Mt. 16:13-20

Who do we trust with the key to our house?  There was a time when we walked out of the house and left the doors unlocked.  Then we started locking doors and leaving a key under a pot.  Today we have bolt locks, key codes, and security cameras.  We learn to trust no one with what is our treasure at home.  There is a treasure we hold that is our soul and yet we often leave it open to all intruders, the music we hear, the movies we watch, the social media we follow, even the people we “party” with.  The soul is made for eternity, for God, guarded by his watch and he will sound the alarm when an intruder enters that does not belong unless we are foolish to welcome the enemy. 

Who has the key to God’s House?  “The key of the House” of God has been entrusted to his anointed from Abraham to David to Peter and his successors.  When Jesus gives Peter the keys to the kingdom of God this is nothing new.  Looking back in biblical history God has always called on someone to lead his people with great authority as we see today in the first reading “what he opens, no one shall shut, when he shuts, no one shall open”; and in the gospel “whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven”. 

We also recall the words to the Apostles in John 20:23 after he breathed on them, “whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, whose sins you retain are retained”.  God is trusting humanity with the keys to the kingdom of heaven.  It begs the question “what were you thinking, God to give the key of the House to your servant?”  We are but sinners and yet by doing so he is demonstrating that all grace comes “from him and through him and for him are all things”.  This was something the early church had to recognize, whether a sacrament was valid if the presbyter committed a mortal sin.  The answer was “yes”, even if we fail, he does not fail us. 

Consider for a moment “who do we trust with the keys to our house?”  We trust family, maybe a neighbor, or a housekeeper.  Who do we trust with our soul?  From the days of Adam and Eve it was not right that we should be alone.  Adam and Eve trusted each other a fell from grace.  Jesus tells Peter “Get away from me Satan”.  Even those we love and trust can be misguided by the evil one.  My favorite short prayer is “Jesus, I trust in you.”  God alone is perfect, we are in search of him.  The church is his vehicle for the journey. 

You and I, deacons, priests, religious in our humanity are imperfect but God chooses the imperfect to demonstrate his perfection when we surrender to his will.  Salvation comes through Christ and we come to Christ by coming to his house of prayer.  The Church holds the keys of the kingdom of heaven.  It is the Church that gave us the books of the Bible bound in heaven and earth as sacred scripture, the Word of God.   It is the Church that gives us the channel of grace through which Christ makes himself present to us in the sacraments.  It is the Church that guides the people of God to discern the will of the Father in our times as we deal with the issues of society.  It is the will of God to institute a Church governed by his anointed to whom he gives the keys to his house and through his house to the kingdom of heaven. 

When Peter responds to Jesus saying “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”, Jesus confirms “For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father”.  Some have said and continue to say “I do not agree with everything the Church teaches”.  There is a litany of issues people object to from celibacy of the priesthood, ordination of men only as priest, the church position on abortion, euthanasia, death penalty, confession to a priest, even the requirements for the sacraments.  The Church is an institution of authority instituted by Christ for his people.  The Church however is its people in which we all share responsibility for building up the kingdom of God. 

The Church is also called to listen to the people of God and calls together Synods in which the people are called to contribute as members of the body of Christ.  Synodality is a process by which laity and bishops share in collaboration and discernment as part of the body of Christ.  Synodality means a “journeying together as a People of God” to listen to each other how God speaks through the one and the many.  The guiding principle of synodality is that it is not about us, it is about God’s will for us.  Not only are we called to walk together but God walks with us so that our hearts may burn with his Spirit.  Together, we care for God’s House and together we build up the kingdom of God. 

We hold the key to the house of God, our home, our soul, our church.  We not only guard the doors to our house but we also receive those who knock and share of our blessings.  We also are called to be a welcoming church as a community of faith but must guard the doors of our church from the evil one who finds ways to enter seeking to desecrate the altar and the house of God.  We are best prepared to be a servant of God when we begin by guarding the door to our soul, rejecting evil, and the temptation to commit sin.  Then we will be ready to fight the good fight.