21st Sunday OT
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St Anthony of Padua, NOLA
Here
in New Orleans we are experts on a few things. Food. Partying. How to
wait for a hurricane, which usually involves food and partying. What
to do when it rains for too long. And the absolute necessity of solid
foundations. . .even if those foundations are nine or so feet off the
ground. When you live in a city where the ground resembles a wore-out
sponge and the sky never seems to stop crying, you learn to
appreciate the usefulness of a rock-solid, never-shifting foundation.
Even if everything on top of that foundation gets swept away, the
foundation itself remains, ready to start again. We need good
foundations for our buildings, and we need good foundations for our
faith. In a world that seems to have lost its mind lately, where
everything we once thought certain and sure has been swept away, we
need the best foundation to keep our place. Christ himself has given
us that foundation: Peter and his Church. On his profession of faith
that Jesus is the Christ, Peter receives the keys to the kingdom of
heaven from Christ and hears our Lord say, “. . .you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the
netherworld shall not prevail against it.” IOW, come hell or high
water, the Church is here to stay!
And stay she has for 2,017
years. Through the bloody persecutions of Rome's emperors. Through
the destruction of the empire by Vandals, Goths, and Visigoths.
Through the schism between East and West. Through the Black Death
which killed at least half of Europe's people, some 140 million
souls. Through three popes reigning at the same time. Through
Luther's revolt and the rise of Protestantism. The best intellectual
efforts of “Enlightenment” era philosophers and politicians. The
French Revolution and its Cult of Reason. Napoleon's empire. The
Kaiser's Kulturkampf.
The Bolshevik Revolution. The First and Second World Wars. The
post-Vatican Two turmoil. The Age of Aquarius. The best efforts of
dissenters and revolutionaries within the Church in the 70's, 80's,
and 90's. And now – in 2017 – the Church will endure through the
current particularly American insanity that pretends to create
reality out of thin air by using the correct terminology. Without a
solid foundation in the apostolic faith, Catholilcs are liable to end
up believing five-year old boys can be magically changed into
ten-year old girls just b/c they say so. Thanks be to God we have the
Rock of Peter and his Church.
All
that the Church has endured over the centuries bears witness to
Christ's promise that not even Hell will prevail against her. And his
promise endures not b/c the Church is somehow mystically protected
from harm. There's no magic at work here. Christ identifies both
Peter and Peter's faith as the Rock the Church is built upon. With
the Holy Spirit's guarantee to Peter against error and the living
faith of the People of God, the Church navigates the world's dangers
and the world's silliness to maintain a constant heading toward
preaching the Good News and caring for souls. Along the way, members
of the Body will jump ship and swim off to answer siren calls,
finding themselves dashed against the rocks of all sorts of nonsense.
Even religious, priests, and bishops have been and will be seduced on
occasion. But when we cling – and cling hard – to Peter's
confession – “You are the Christ!” – we can clearly see the
silliness for what it is. The nonsense for what it is. What better
way is there for us to endure than to cling – and cling hard – to
the Way, the Truth, and the Life who is Christ Jesus?
Our
Lord has a question for us all: who
do you say that I am?
That's not a rhetorical question. That's not a question the preacher
asks just to sound like he saying something profound. It's a real
question from 2, 000 years ago and right this moment. Jesus wants to
know who you think he is. Your answer to this question determines
whether or not you're in the boat or swimming toward the rocks. If,
with Peter, you say, “You are the Christ!” then the next question
is all too obvious: do
you live like you believe he's the Christ?
We are no longer living in a Christian culture. Not even in New
Orleans. We can no longer look to our political and cultural
institutions for support in the faith. Even our public language, our
common ways of speaking with one another, no longer carries the
weight of our Christian tradition. Maybe, at one time, we could move
through our day and find constant reminders of the faith. This is
probably true now only for those of us who work in the Church. So, it
has to be said: just
showing up is not enough anymore. Your
faith must be chosen, intentional; it must determined and in
evidence. If not, you are in danger of losing it, or leaving it
behind. Tape it to your steering wheel, over your desk; stick on your
alarm clock, or your coffee pot; write in on your hand or your
favorite book; make it your desktop wallpaper, or your ringtone: Who
do I say Jesus is?
Follow HancAquam or Subscribe ----->
