On the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, our parish's patronal feast, Fr. Kevin Girardi preaches on the promise Jesus makes to Peter in the Gospel: "Upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18).
We tend to hear that promise as reassurance. The Church will be attacked from every side, but don't worry, she will hold. Fr. Kevin says that reading is precisely backward. Jesus spoke those words at Caesarea Philippi, standing before a literal cavern the ancient world called the gates of hell, a place of pagan sacrifice carved into the rock beside a temple to a Caesar who claimed to be the son of God. It was the last place a faithful Jew would want to stand. Jesus took His apostles there on purpose, to the battle line, and asked the question that still confronts each of us: "Who do you say that I am?"
Gates do not march on anyone. They stand still. So when Jesus promises that the gates of hell will not prevail, He is not describing a Church under siege. He is giving a command to go on the offensive, to march on the gate and break it down, because it cannot withstand the force of the Church.
Drawing on the charge at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, Fr. Kevin shows how Peter and Paul lived this out and lays out the same battle plan for us. First, point out the gates of hell in our own lives, the strongholds of pride, control, unforgiveness, lust, isolation, and despair, through a daily examination of conscience the world would rather we never make. Then attack them, living out our baptismal identity and going to confession, which is not merely getting something off our chest but war, the place where Jesus does battle for our freedom. And finally, know who fights beside us. In the Eucharist, the One who descended into hell and defeated it feeds us with Himself and never departs from our side.
We were blessed to have the relics of St. Paul present for this celebration and to venerate them after Mass, seeking our patron's intercession for that same zeal and fire.
Recorded at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church, Westerville, Ohio. Homilist: Fr. Kevin Girardi. Readings for the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Gospel: Matthew 16:13-19.