MY HOMILY FOR SUNDAY 23 AUG 26 SUN WK 21 OT
Is 22:19-23; Ps 138; Rom 11:33-36; Mt 16:13-19
You are the Christ, The Face of the Mercy of God!
After Simon’s confession that Jesus is the “Christ, the Son of the Living God,” Jesus replied: “… you are Peter [Cephas, a rock], and upon this rock [Cephas] I will build my Church [ekklesia]… and I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.”
In saying this, Jesus made Simon Peter the head of the entire community of believers and placed in his hands the spiritual guidance of the faithful.
However, Simon Peter was not without faults. The Gospel is replete with stories of his misgivings, especially after being called ‘Peter’. He was impulsive and was often reproached by Christ. He would even soon be addressed as “Satan”. Simon Peter had fallen asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane instead of praying, as Jesus had asked him to do. He also denied knowing Jesus three times after the Lord’s arrest. But it is in all these human weaknesses that God’s power and mercy shine all the more.
We may say that Peter’s primacy lies in the authority of his witness to God’s mercy. As a recipient of God’s great mercy, he was strengthened to dispense God’s mercy. As a great example of God’s mercy at work, he is an encouragement to all to believe in God’s mercy. As a ‘stumbling block’ turned into a foundation rock, he unites us all believers not to himself but to Christ, the Rock of Salvation. As keeper of the keys of the Kingdom, his ministry unlocks and unbinds the sins of our human frailty so we may welcome and be welcomed into the loving embrace of God’s mercy.
May our encounter with Peter in his journey of faith this Sunday be circumspect, so as not to be crushed by focusing only on our failures and misgivings, but on God’s liberating, loving mercy as witnessed to by Peter.
May our own weaknesses and misgivings not remain stumbling blocks, but in faith in His mercy and love, become stepping stones to truly unite us with Christ, our Savior, the Face of the Mercy of God.
So when Christ asks us, “Who do you say I am?” We may readily say, as Peter did, “You are the Christ,” and add, the “Face of the Mercy of God!” And with St Paul, let us acclaim: To him be glory forever! Amen!
