First reading: Isaiah 22:19-23
Psalm: Ps 138:1-3,6,8
Epistle: Romans 11:33-36
Gospel: Matthew 16:13-20

For who has known the mind of the Lord
or who has been his counselor?
Or who has given the Lord anything
that he may be repaid?

Today we are given the challenge. Today we are asked to consider the Church as the sole means to knowing the mind of the Lord.

We come to our parishes each week and we sit in the pew. We participate in the action of the Church by doing so, but we never seem to delve too deeply into the character, the reality, or the presence of the Church. How is it that the Church is the teacher of God’s truth?

As members of God’s Holy Church we are faced with the same question Jesus put to His disciples: —But who do you say that I am?—

Let’s consider the alternatives.

The first alternative is found in Jesus’ first question: —Who do people say that the Son of Man is?—

This is the world’s opinion of the Church. Who does the world say that we are?

Some say we are an evil, the harbinger of everything bad, the restraint on unlimited freedom, the key component in every evil that has ever existed. Others see the Church as a pleasant gathering place, where nothing much is required, where people can come to reflect and ponder in a peaceful atmosphere – you can even get wine and bread, and a pretty good cup of coffee afterward. Some see Church as an undefined path, a means by which we get to pick and choose what we believe. Some see the Church as a rigid structure of rules, leaders and followers, immeasurable and indiscernible doctrines. In the end, whether positive or negatively viewed, the world sees the Church as a menu of choices, choices and decisions that the world gets to make, a merely human institution.

Another alternative is found among those who mistake power for the Church. It is an alternative espoused by those who claim unique authority, an authority unknown to us, and to the Church of the first millennium. It is the error made by those who see Peter, and Peter alone, as the Church. In doing so they miss the Church. At worst they completely confuse Church and earthly power.

The proper choice is found in Jesus statement to Peter:

—Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.—

This is more than a choice. It is a blessed revelation and realization that the Church is something God provided for us. It is God’s creation, the Bride of Christ, the earthly presence of Christ, guided by the Holy Spirit, and with us as our mother.

Brothers and sisters,

If we realize that the Church is God’s creation, God’s spouse, and that it is guided by God we will clearly see something new. It is this: The Holy Church is the infallible guide and pathway to heaven. In adhering to the Church’s teaching, what Jesus allowed by giving the Church the keys to the kingdom and the power to loose and bind, we hold the truth. In adhering to the teaching of the Church as our obligation we draw ever closer to the reality of God’s Kingdom among men.

The Holy Church in its proclamation of the Gospel, in its teaching and preaching in accord with the Gospel and Tradition, in its witness to Christ, in its work among all men, in its gifts given from, through, and with the Holy Spirit, and in its continued action in opening up the graces given by our Lord into our care, opens to us the revelation of, and path back to, God. In our adhering to the Church’s teaching, in our believing and in our making the Church’s teaching our own teaching, even when we feel we cannot agree, we climb the narrow path to perfection. Through the Church we see as a goal, and move toward, a changed reality — our regeneration in faith. It is our walk home to heaven with our mother, our guide, at our side. This is the only reality that matters.

Friends,

You may ask, ‘Deacon, wasn’t Jesus asking about Himself in the Gospel, not the Church?—

I ask you to consider the words in John 1:14: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth

The Church is Jesus among us, full of grace and truth, dwelling here and now. The Church is Christ’s means of proclamation to the world and the way He has chosen to leave His presence in the world. The Church is the means by which He chose to bring about the Kingdom.

So to us. Our duty and obligation is to act in unity with the Church and her teaching authority. We don’t get to discount teachings because they are inconvenient, because ——we—— don’t agree, or because Her teaching doesn’t suit our particular tastes or informed opinion. Instead we must focus on our revealed mission, the light God has given us in proclaiming who Jesus really is:

—You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.—

This is a heavy burden on us, yet a beautiful burden with an ultimate reward. In our unity with the Church we have Jesus’ promise that what we are taught is true. We have His guarantee that what we do and what we teach, when doing and teaching what the Church teaches, is truth. Jesus has laid out a pathway and He has given the Church the tools and resources necessary to navigate that pathway. We have those tools and resources at our disposal as members of the Church.

Brothers and sisters,

The road to God is not easy. It has been referred to as the ancient path and the narrow road. The Prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 6:16) proclaimed:

Thus says the LORD:
“Stand by the roads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls.

In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus tells us that the narrow path, the harder choice, is the correct choice, the choice that leads to life:

“Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

We are all plagued by doubt and uncertainty as to what we are doing. Some say that the doubts are less as you get older, but I’m not sure. We know that following the path to God, humbling ourselves to the will of God is difficult. We know that discipline is exceptionally hard. When confronted by those doubts, uncertainties, and the need for humility let us be reassured — God is with us along this narrow path, this ancient way. So let us set to conforming ourselves to what the Holy Church asks of us, even if… In doing so we will know the mind of the Lord and we will do His work. Amen.