August 23, 2020 – 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time – Cycle A Fr. Larry Richards

Good Morning - Good Morning, Father. And how are you? Blessed. Blessed Indeed.

What a difference a week makes, huh? Last week at this very time I was being admitted to the ICU unit across the street. Very sick. Not because of my fasting. Well, kind of. I think it’s your fault. I was fasting for you on Friday. I was fasting for my parishioners, here and online. It was my third day of fast with just one meal, but you’re not supposed to do that on Jardiance, the medication I was on. Nobody told me, but I found out really fast when I ended up with diabetic ketoses and it wasn’t good. If my doctor wouldn’t have kept pushing, wouldn’t have went to the hospital, I would have been in a coma or dead that day. So, as I was over there, I was healthy and all these other things and it turned out fine. But you start thinking about the end of your life, huh? And, again, I wasn’t the least bit afraid of anything….it was just interesting. I was all ready. Heaven wasn’t ready but I was ready. And the reality was – I was thinking about a lot of stuff. Because you think a lot while you’re in there. Especially about things like today’s Gospel.

Because, many people got on my case over the years about being a supporter of Francis. You know, I got emails, “when are you going to stop”? I’ve had parishioners come in and sit me down in my office and tell me “you’ve got to stop supporting the Pope.” All these type of realities. As I was sitting there, and I was facing God, I was all the more convinced, that this is the way to be. Why? Because of and his promise today in the Gospel. This is about Jesus. He gives us a promise today. He looks at Peter and he says, “You are rock. And upon you I will build my Church. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I give you the keys” Think about this. “I give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you declare bind on earth, I’m going to bind in heaven. And whatever you loose on earth, I’m will loose in heaven. That’s the promise of Almighty God. It’s just a promise. And I don’t think Jesus Christ is a liar. I don’t know about you, but I know that Jesus Christ is not a liar. I would stake my life on him, and I would stake my life on what he says. You all know I drive a Black Pacifica. I know, I drive a minivan but it’s because of my dogs. If I take the keys to my car. It’s out in the garage right now, and has the license plate says URGOOD. Now, years ago, Diane Gallaher, who is a parishioner, sat there and said, “Of all people to have that license plate. URGOOD. Anyway, but if I have my keys, and there’s only one set, and I throw that group of keys to you, and I say, “Here, here’s the keys to my car. Whoever you let into my car, they can go. Whoever you don’t, they can’t get in. You have the only set”. That’s just the way it is. God gave the keys of heaven to Peter…the first pope. And to every pope after that. He didn’t give it to Cardinals, he didn’t give it to theologians, he didn’t give it to certain speakers who think they know the faith, and they say, “I think I’m pretty good. You better believe what I’m saying”. He didn’t put it to those on Catholic TV or Catholic radio shows. He didn’t give them the keys to the kingdom of heaven. He gave them to one person – the pope. Period.

So when Jesus does something like that, then I’m going to trust Jesus. I might not agree with him, but nobody asked me. I need to come and to trust in Jesus and his word. So when Jesus says, “On you I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it”, I believe that. And I still do. And I think, more than ever, we who are followers of Christ and the need to not be confused. When people sit now and talk about times now, and say, “the church is confusing”, there’s nothing to be confused about. You either listen to who God set up, or you don’t. The doubt, the fear, the anxiety, the confusion, comes from the evil one. It does not come from Jesus Christ. So, if you’re confused, if you have doubts, if you have fear, if you have anxiety, it’s because you have been listening to the devil, not because you have been listening to Jesus Christ. So, what must happen is, we gotta look at Jesus and we gotta trust him and trust his word. And anybody who starts telling me anything else, who brings me anxiety or confusion, I dismiss them. I don’t care if it’s a cardinal, I don’t care if it’s a bishop, I don’t care if it’s a speaker. If that brings me confusion that is not of God. God is not the God of confusion, but the God of peace. Sometimes the devil likes to be this confusion, but Jesus was clear. So, I don’t see any problem. When he said, “you are rock and on you I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it”, that’s what we believe. In the Old Testament, see, he said, “here, you have the keys”, and he gives the keys again to Peter. So we need to make sure that we are in the boat of Peter, if we are going to stay Catholic. Doesn’t matter your tradition, doesn’t matter your belief. Nobody cares. The only thing one should care about is what Jesus Christ said. And Jesus Christ gave us the pope. And he said to listen to him is to listen to me. He has the keys to the kingdom of heaven. You want to go to heaven? I’d get in his boat. You don’t want to go to heaven? Then depart from here. But we need to make sure we are not confused. Because we keep our eyes on Jesus.

Got it? Get it? Going to do it?

May each of you know his love, now and forever, Amen.