Most of the time, we don’t make a big deal out of keys. You know, we carry keys around in our pocket and we use them when we need to get into some place, or to activate something or turn something on or off. Some of us carry around a lot of keys. This is why pastors all have holes in their pockets. It’s from all the keys. Fr. Dale and I both have one key that is particularly troublesome. It’s the little key that we use to turn the pouring water on the Baptismal font on and off. And it’s sharp and pointy! It leaves all these red marks all over the top of your leg. There for awhile last Winter, I thought I was getting leprosy. But it was just the little Baptismal font key stabbing me in top of my leg. Usually we just don’t think a lot about keys. In reality, keys come with a lot of responsibility. If someone gives you a key to their house, to their car, to their toolbox, it really means that they trust you. They trust you not only with the key. But they also trust you with the access that the key affords you. A certain amount of responsibility comes with the deal.

When I was in high school, I was friends with an older couple from our Parish. One day the couple gave me a key to their house. At that time, I thought it was coolest thing in the world. They said I could use the key and come over anytime I wanted to, to study, or read, or write, or pray, or just take a nap. I never used that key. But I very much remember how special I felt that they trusted me enough to give me that key. It was a big deal.

Today in our Gospel, Jesus says that He is giving the keys to His Kingdom to St. Peter. This is a powerful text. It is the primary text that is used to support our Church’s dogma on the Primacy of Peter and also Apostolic succession. And yet, as we hear this text today, we wonder what St. Peter thought. He had the “right” answer. Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Although we know that St. Peter didn’t fully understand all of the implications of this. What was it like, though, to have Jesus give you the keys to the Kingdom? At first, it must have seemed fun and exciting, like getting the keys to a new car or getting the keys to a really cool time share somewhere. But I’m sure that it didn’t take too long for the responsibility of those keys to take hold. What you declare bound on earth shall be bound in Heaven. And what you declare “loose” on earth, shall be “loosed” in Heaven. This is a lot more than somebody giving you the keys to their house or their car. The eternal significance of what Jesus was charging St. Peter with, would become the greatest responsibility that St. Peter would know. St. Peter and the early Church took these words very seriously. We still do today.

My brothers and sisters, we belong to the Church that still has that responsibility today. The Catholic Church’s goal is to get every single soul home to Heaven. Those keys, and that authority, were given by Jesus, Himself, to One Church. There weren’t duplicate keys passed out to many people. There was one set of keys. There was one first pope. And there was supposed to be only ONE church. Our “divisions” keep this from happening. This is why we must keep striving for the unification of all the different denominations of Christianity. The Church was very important to Jesus. He empowered it to be His representative in the world, until He comes again. How blessed we are to belong to this Church! How extraordinary to have a Pope who is the 264 th successor to that very St. Peter that Jesus entrusted the Church to, almost two thousand years ago. That lineage is so important. We want to stick with this Church. It’s not perfect. It never has been. It’s made some terrible mistakes over the years. And yet, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, it has not only survived, but it just keeps getting better, and better, all the time. It’s time for us as Catholics to be proud of our Faith and our Church. We still have the keys. May we use them well.

And that brings me to the responsibility that still comes with the keys today. Keys can be misused. You can go places and do things for the wrong reasons when you have keys. You can take car keys, be irresponsible, and hurt a lot of people. The keys that Jesus gave to the Church come with even more responsibility and even more of a temptation to use them in the wrong way. We, as Church, must be very careful what we do with these keys and this authority. Like St. Peter, we need to remember that we must seek to get every single soul home to Jesus’ Kingdom. These keys cannot be used for exclusion, or selfish reasons, or for playing “god”. These “keys” are for the salvation of ALL mankind. We, as Catholics, all need to feel that responsibility. That wasn’t just for St. Peter. We all need to be building the Kingdom of God. Not just with bricks and steel, but we need to build the Kingdom with hearts and souls and lives. The keys are connected to the question: Who do you say that I am?

May God bless us today, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… AMEN !!!

St. Maria Goretti… Pray for us !!!