Homily: 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle A
Friends, today’s readings all point us to the establishment of the papacy and to the authority given to the Church to govern God’s people and to make judgments in the name of God. The reading from the book of Isaiah gives us the context from which we are to understand Jesus’ handing on the authority of the kingdom to Peter. For in Isaiah, the authority was taken from one and given to another solely based on the individual’s faithfulness to being a just judge and a good steward of the resources of the kingdom. Remember, though, that it was God who was making this change, not the earthly king. Still further, God (through Isaiah, the prophet) makes the promise that it is he himself that will make him a sturdy authority because of his faithfulness. This last point is one that is important for us to remember as we think about Christ establishing the papacy for his Church.
Important because, on the surface, it seems a little bit crazy that God would entrust his authority on earth to a deeply flawed man. We know Peter to be brash and impulsive; we know him to be someone who is brave, but not always prudent. Just a couple of weeks ago, we recalled how he bravely stepped out of the boat onto the water at the command of Jesus (who himself was standing miraculously on the surface of the water), but then quickly sank as he became fearful of the stormy seas around him. We recalled how Jesus admonished him: saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” This is the same Peter to whom Jesus entrusts the authority of his kingdom in today’s Gospel reading. Knowing what we know about Peter, we can–on the surface, at least–question whether this was Jesus’ best decision.
Then, when we look at the history of the popes throughout the centuries, our questioning of Jesus’ decision to leave the authority of the Church in the hands of flawed men will only deepen. There, in the history, we find popes like Pope Stephen the sixth, who was so jealous and vengeful of his predecessor, Pope Formosus, that he had his body dug up from its grave, dressed in his former papal robes, and put on trial for all the wrongs that Pope Stephen thought he had committed. After this mockery of a trial, he had Formosus’ body mutilated and thrown in the Tiber river (which runs through Rome). His actions caused riots and unrest throughout Rome. Or how about Pope Alexander the sixth, who used his power and authority to enrich his family members–even his children (yes, you heard that right). He was known to deal in bribes and immoral political manipulation, along with other indecent personal acts. Unfortunately, there are many more examples of popes who behaved badly while still holding the full authority of the Church, first handed on to Saint Peter.
Then there were those who were just incompetent. Pope Clement the seventh was a famously incompetent leader. During his papacy, he mismanaged a number of political alliances which led ultimately to Rome being invaded and conquered. Clement was also responsible for being unable to resolve the crisis with Henry the eighth in England that led him to separate the Church in England from the Roman Church. Again, there are many other examples of popes who were simply incompetent, but yet who, because they were the successor of Peter, wielded the full authority of the Church.
At this point, you might be thinking to yourselves, is Father trying to convince us that we shouldn’t trust the Pope? If so, the answer is “NO”! I am simply trying to point out that entrusting authority over the Church–that is, the very sacrament of salvation for all peoples that God established–to a flawed man seems, on the surface, to be a little bit crazy. I point this out because I believe that, ultimately, this is not the point. Rather, I believe that the point we are called to recognize–the lesson that God is imparting to us–is that the Church with the papacy has survived nonetheless in spite of the abundant flaws of each of its popes [REPEAT].
Popes, as we have seen, are messy, complicated people (Peter no exception, right?). As it turns out, however, if they get one thing right they will survive. What is that one thing? It’s the profession of faith [REPEAT].
In the Gospel reading, Jesus inquires among his disciples to learn from them what other people are saying about him. “Who do they say that I am?” After they share their answers, he turns the question on them to see whether they are starting to understand who he is. Here, Peter speaks for everyone (or maybe not for everyone, but just before everyone) and declares his faith: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus, the good teacher, affirms Peter’s correct answer and then responds with that famous phrase: “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church…” and “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven…” Now, when Jesus says, “on this rock”, does he mean “Peter, the man,” or does he mean “Peter’s profession of faith?” The answer, I argue, is both. It’s both. Jesus means both.
It’s true, you see, that flawed persons are a shaky foundation on which to build any organization. The same persons, however, who confidently (and with humility) profess faith in the divinity of Jesus, and that he is the one sent into the world to redeem mankind, become solid rocks on which God’s Church can be built. All of those flawed popes that I mentioned (and the many others that I didn’t mention), in spite of the multitude of ways that they failed to live up to the faith, nonetheless professed the same faith and never taught anything against it. Because they were faithful in professing and safeguarding the faith, God was able to protect the Church and keep it from collapsing: realizing the divine guarantee that he professed to Peter in Capernaum on that fateful day nearly two thousand years ago: “upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.”
Friends, we all can be–and we are called to be–rocks on which Christ builds his Church. Like Peter and all the popes after him, however, we don’t have to be perfect. Better, in fact, if we aren’t! Rather, instead of striving too hard for perfection by our own ingenuity, we should strive to bolster our profession of faith–and, thus, our trust that , if we live from this profession, God’s kingdom will continue to emerge and grow around us (and even in spite of us!).
What does living from this profession–that is, living in this trust in God’s power to build through us–look like? It looks like worshiping God–both at Mass and in daily prayer; it looks like living by his commandments–all of them!; it looks like loving those closest to us–that is, in our families, primarily, and in our community; and it looks like never despairing because of our faults and the faults of those around us, but trusting in God and in his providence at every turn. Finally, when we fail at doing any one of these things, living from this profession of faith looks like turning back to the Father in faith to seek forgiveness and to receive strength to begin again. This, my brothers and sisters, is the rock on which the Church is built; and we are each called–and given every grace–to make this rock firm.
As we unite our prayers today for our current pope, Pope Leo, that his faith will remain ever firm as he leads God’s Church, let us renew our own profession of faith–and our commitment to live from it–so that God’s Church may continue to grow, and we will continue to draw closer to our eternal reward in heaven.
Given in Spanish at St. Patrick Parish: Kokomo, IN – August 23rd, 2026
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