Come and help build the Church

Sts Peter and Paul, Apostles Matthew 16:13-19 When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

If today’s gospel sounds similar, it is. It is the same story that we read last Sunday, today is Matthew’s version and last week it was Luke’s. This is the key question of our faith, “who do you say that I am?” It is the question that we must answer if we are going to be followers of Jesus. And today as we consider the question we celebrate the Feast of Peter and Paul. Both are offered to us as examples to follow. Peter and Paul, the men who, after Jesus, were the founding leaders of the Christian community. Peter and Paul, so different from one another in character and background, but both leaders in the early Church. Peter the denier and Paul the persecutor, Peter the prophetic leader, Paul the itinerant preacher, both chosen and in their own ways responsible for the tremendous growth of the Church. Growth that continues to this very day. Today's readings focus primarily on Peter— the Gospel relates how he was appointed as leader and the first reading from Acts tells of his liberation from prison. When Simon correctly identifies Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” Jesus tells him that his ability to understand him in that way came not from human knowledge but rather from divine inspiration. Because of his profession of faith Jesus makes Simon a foundation of the temple of the new community of Israel that he is bringing into existence. And he gives Simon a new name: Peter which means rock, Spanish makes the connection much stronger, Pedro or Piedra. Peter is the Rock, upon which the church is built. Peter is not called a builder, but a rock, a material in construction. So what comes with a profession of faith comes the call to ministry. Obviously Peter is a living stone. He didn’t construct a building, but he was a part of a living structure the Church. We don’t have the story of Paul’s call today but we know that the same thing happened to Paul. After he was knocked to the ground, after he proclaimed that Jesus was his Messiah he began his missionary activity. One always leads to another, after professing our faith we are sent to share that faith. The first reading is the account of Peter's miraculous release from prison. Peter is released so that he continue his ministry, so that he may continue to build up a Church of living stones. Last week we reflected on who Jesus is for us, we made our profession of faith. We are those living stones of the Church, we are called to build up this Church. It reminds me of that bible song we used to sing as kids, “Yo soy la iglesia, tu eres la iglesia, somos la iglesia del Senor, hermano ven ayudame, hermana ven a ayudame a construir la iglesia del Senor.” And then we would begin to build up those living stones. Peter and Paul built up the Church, the same is true for us. How is that we are building up this Church? What is the stone that I am contributing to this structure? I must admit that it is easy to reflect on this here with all of you. We are a small community, we know each other by name. I could go around one by one to enumerate the way that you build up the church, the way that each one of us contributes to the structure, but I think that that would miss the point. A building is obviously a building. A structure a struture, a church is a church. We don’t use look and marvel, “what a beautiful stone that is” we marvel at what a beautiful building it is. In the Church Santissima in the center there are these beautiful arches, arches that have stood for 262 years. The church is sinking into the lake but the arches have stood the test of time. In the center there is a beautiful capstone and then all the stones are arrayed forming this beautiful arch. That is my image of the building of the church. If one stone would be removed the arch would collapse the building would fall. Today we don’t just celebrate one saint, we celebrate two: Peter and Paul. We celebrate them together because they are the foundational pillars of the Church. Peter who represents tradition and Paul who represent mission. Their ministries were distinct but they were intertwined. In spreading the Gospel they each had a role to play but their ministries complimented one another. So brother come and help me, sister come and help me to construct and be the living church today.