Jun 29th, 2025: Solemnity of Saints Peter & Paul

Today is the celebration of the Solemnity of Saints Peter & Paul, Apostles (that word is important. It means one who is called). The Gospel reading today, from Matthew is so rich. There are many things we could consider today as a result of hearing this particular Gospel passage. The passage starts out with Jesus and the Apostles in the region of Caesarea Philippi. Why?

• 25 miles north of Bethsaida – Sea of Galilee, northern Palestine, >1,000’ incline above the Jordan River valley
• Nothing else happens in CAESAREA PHILIPPI, in scripture, before or after this scripture passage. So, they took this 25-mile walk, apparently, just for this particular event. Which makes it even more significant! And after this event, they left CAESAREA PHILIPPI.
• CAESAREA PHILIPPI known as “The Gates of Hell” b/c of cave/spring, Greeks/pagans believed it was the entrance to the underworld, the realm of the dead. They even worshiped false/pagan gods there.
• “The gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” That makes this whole event/passage even much more significant!

• Peter is the rock: in Jesus’ language, Aramaic: Kepha = rock. You are Peter/Rock and upon this rock I will build my church.
• Revelation to Peter given by God: that Jesus is the Messiah/Mashiach-Aramaic/Christ-Greek
• Peter’s confession comes as a revelation given to him by the Heavenly Father/God
  • Establishment of the Church
  • After this he turns his face toward the cross
• One of the things Jesus came to do:
• To establish the Church (more literal translation is his “assembly”), so that when He/Jesus was gone, His Church, through the calling of the Apostles, would continue. And that’s why we are here today.
  • Having established the foundation of the Church: the Apostolic Church, Jesus immediately begins to tell his Apostles how he must suffer and die.

What is our call, as part of being One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church?

• What occurs to me, having been here at Saint Martha for a year now is the charism we have here as a Parish “Family”. We are a “Parish Family”. Each parish community has its own charism, and ours at Saint Martha, is obviously that of family. Raise your hand if you’ve been a member or were a member of this Parish more than 20 years ago. So, family comes naturally. It’s “who we are”. It is “what we do”. Just look at the family/Team effort that has gone into our picnic!
• Well, what about those people who did not just raise their hands? What about those people who are not here, or are not members of our Parish Family? Whose job is it to reach out and draw them in? To call to new family members?
• An Apostle is “one who is called”. So, who are we calling, to be members or our Parish Family? Who is calling them? And how are we calling them?
• We are the Church founded on Peter/Kepha: the rock. We are the Apostolic Church, called by Jesus to be Apostles…on this celebration of Apostles. We are called to reach out to the stranger, to invite others to join our family.
• Whose job is it: in your picnic booth, in the chicken line, in church on Saturday evening or on Sunday morning, to reach out to the stranger? Whose job is it, in your committee meeting, to get up and intentionally welcome the person who just walked into the meeting for the first time? You might say: Deacon Mike, it is everyone’s job to do that. And you’d be right. But you know, in business and in life, we have a saying: “If it’s everyone’s job, it’s no one’s job.”
• Whose job is it to take out the trash, or put the file back in the file cabinet, or put the paint can in the back of the truck at the end of the day? If it’s “everyone’s” job, and no one does it, what happens then? Who owns that responsibility? In this case, I own it; and you own it.
• So, as we leave church today, and come back next week, consider it – not “everyone’s job”, but “my job” to reach out to the stranger, shake their hand, ask them where they’re from, welcome them to our parish and ask them to come back next week, to join us for Donut Sundays, to join our BOW between the Masses, to join in one of our other Adult Faith Formation/Bible Study classes, or to join in any other of our ministries.

As Jesus and the Apostles left CAESAREA PHILIPPI, Jesus called the Apostles to “take up their cross and follow Him.” To be Apostles, those are called, and whose job it was to call others to the church that had been founded on the rock. If the Apostles hadn’t continued Jesus’ practice of calling others into the Church, we would not be here today. Similarly, let us go forth to join the Apostles in inviting, in calling, others to join our part of the One, Catholic, and Apostolic Church…that part on Klondike Lane in Louisville, KY. To fill this worship space – these pews – with the love of Christ, and to fill this worship space with the people of Christ: those currently in our Parish Family, and those who have yet to be invited.