21st Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 23 Homily

August 23, 2026

We are sinners.  God alone is holy.  Not a news flash.  “We have all sinned and are thus deprived of the glory of God”.  But, what is the result of sin?  Death.  Romans 6:23 teaches that “the wages of sin is death”.  And wasn’t that what God warned Adam and Eve about in the Garden of Eden – that they not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, lest they die?  Yeah, but in Genesis Chapter 3 we learn they did it anyway.  And they didn’t die… well, right away… at least physically.  However, spiritual death did occur right away through their mortal sin, which led to separation from God in this life, and to eternal separation beyond.  We call this bad news.  And our world today tries to sell this bad news as really not that bad.  It tries to seduce us into thinking there aren’t really any consequences for sin – that we can get away with it.  That you just have to try to be good, and then you can go to heaven.  But you know, if we don’t accept the bad news – that we are sinners, and therefore lost for all eternity – then we cannot accept the Good News.  

The Good News comes to us definitively in the person of Jesus Christ.  It’s in Him that God restores us to friendship and union with Himself.  And this Good News is also already foreshadowed in Genesis 3.  Here Adam and Eve learn their fate because of their radical disobedience of God, their loving Father – expulsion from the Garden of Eden, as well as an existence in this life and the next separated from Him, who is the very source of life and love.  Here, God, speaking to the serpent – the devil in bodily form – declares, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; They will strike at your head, while you strike at their heel.”  

And here in lies the prophecy of the Good News, which was announced and proclaimed when the Blessed Virgin Mary – the woman – gave birth to Jesus – her offspring – who, as the Savior, has crushed the head of Satan by His very death on the cross and His Resurrection from the dead.  On the cross, on Good Friday, Jesus, who is true God and true man, took upon Himself the punishment of death because of our sins.  But by dying, His death swallowed up death, because death cannot hold prisoner the very Author of Life.  And so in Jesus’ Resurrection, when He rose from the dead on Easter Sunday, He broke the bonds of death, and opened the gates of Heaven.  God Himself took the bad news and made it truly good.  And, this is what the word “Gospel” itself literally means: Good News.  

So, what do we do with this Good News?  Once we understand our need for a savior, and recognize that Jesus Christ is that Savior, then what?  Well, the Scriptures themselves tell us what to do: “Repent and be baptized every one of you.”  To repent is to acknowledge that we are sinners, and to ask for God’s forgiveness.  How do we receive God’s forgiveness?  Through the very means Jesus Himself established so that this Good News could be delivered to all people of all ages – the Church.  And, in particular, the sacraments of the Church – the very channels by which God’s grace is given to us personally.  

And this is what we see unfolding in our Gospel today.  Jesus gives to Peter the “keys to the kingdom”.  It’s upon Peter, whose name literally means “rock”, that Jesus builds His Church.  And it’s through Peter and His successors, who are the very visible sign of Jesus’ presence on earth, that Christ still leads His flock.  In other words, the Church was not an afterthought.  As the Body of Christ, the Church is essential for salvation, because it’s the means by which what Christ the Head did for His Body, can be received and participated in by His Body, the Church.  

Now, God’s forgiveness – His free gift of salvation – comes to us, beginning in baptism.  Why baptism?  Well in baptism, we personally enter into the one perfect sacrifice for all that Jesus historically offered on the cross.  We were lowered down into the font, and water was poured over us three times – just as Jesus went down into the grave and was buried for three days.  In baptism, we truly entered into Christ’s death.  And then when we were lifted up from the baptismal font, we were born again by the Holy Spirit, and we began to share in Christ’s very Resurrection.  We became a new creation in Christ.

Our parents gave us natural birth, bringing us into their home.  And for many of us, shortly after birth, they brought us to God’s house, the church, so that we could begin our new life as true sons and daughters of God the Father.  The water breaking at our natural birth, soon lead to our rebirth in the waters of baptism, by which we received the gift of eternal life

But that was just the beginning.  Similar to how as infants, we then need to learn how to walk and talk and do long division and eventually taxes; so we need to grow as children of God.  The gift of the Eucharist, the very Body and Blood of Christ, helps us to grow up big and strong as disciples of Jesus.  The gift of Reconciliation, enables us to receive anew that one sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, and know that our sins are truly forgiven – that we still need a Savior.  The gift of confirmation, by which we confirm the very grace given to us in baptism, making a free choice to choose Jesus as our Savior as maturing members of His Body, the Church.  

This is the gift of salvation.  One we first received at baptism.  One which is renewed in the worthy celebration of the sacraments.  And one which is held out to us in hope for eternity.  The journey then of this life is meant to allow God’s very Holy Spirit to perfect us, as we, sons and daughters, grow in to the image and likeness of the only-begotten Son of God the Father.  And the sacraments are those preeminent ways that God’s grace comes to us to help us grow in faith, hope, and love, and to truly grow in virtue.  Another valuable means to really growing spiritually is Discovering Christ, which we are offering this September.  I have seen time and again how Discovering Christ has transformed people personally and how it has helped renew parish life.  Will you consider joining me this September 17 as we embark on this journey together of discovering anew our amazing God as revealed to us in the flesh in our Lord Jesus Christ.  God bless you.