The Eucharist is not a prize for the perfect; it is medicine for us who are very imperfect.

If you were given the responsibility of choosing our next pope, what qualities of leadership would you be looking for?  What kind of leadership does the Church need to carry on the message and mission of Jesus?

I ask you this question to invite you to consider how Jesus chose our first pope.  What kind of leadership was Jesus looking in the apostle Peter?

In today’s Gospel, Jesus was giving his apostles a gut check.  He asked his disciples:  “Who do you say that I am?”  Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the son of the living God.”  Jesus said to him:  “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah…And so, I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church.”  In Peter’s answer, he was saying that his relationship with Jesus was the commitment that defined his life.

St. Peter is a paradoxical leader of the Church in that he exhibits both strength and weakness in his faith journey.  In next Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus is saying to Peter:  “Get behind me, Satan!  You are an obstacle to me.  You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

And yet, Peter was chosen to be the first pope not by accident, but rather by divine design.  His very failure became his credential to be the foremost preacher of God’s limitless mercy.  Can you resonate with that powerful statement?   I know for myself when dealing with the death of family members, when coping with surgeries in my life, when dealing with a ministry given to me that was very unexpected, these moments were moments of faith when I was challenged to trust in the limitless mercy of Jesus.

Going back to Peter, people would see in the face of Peter the look of one who knows the giving and forgiving God.  Peter would speak from his own experience:  “Do not be afraid.”  God’s love has pursued  Peter in his sin and found him  and gave him a  new life.  Peter was a sinner saved by the love of Jesus.   The Good News Peter would fearlessly proclaim is God’s love will pursue you in your sin and find you and give you new life. 

We Catholics boldly speak of the primacy of the pope.  What of the primacy of our first Pope?  Peter has primacy because he is first in failure, first in suffering, first in his need for God’s mercy to serve the Church.  Somehow Jesus understands that Peter can only preach God’s reconciling love if he first experiences it himself.  It is because Peter will fail so completely and weep so bitterly over his denial of Jesus that, when he is finally reconciled with Jesus at the Sea of Tiberius, he will truly understand God’s message of mercy.

Pope Francis began his time as pope by acknowledging that he was a sinner and that God had first “mercied” him before choosing him.  His papal motto, miserando atque eligendo.  He was chosen to be pope because he was well acquainted with the mercy and forgiveness of God.

In the penitential rite at the beginning of the celebration of the Eucharist, we acknowledge and celebrate our need for God’s merciful forgiveness.  Before receiving Communion, we say, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof; say but the word and my soul shall be healed.”  The Eucharist is not a reward for the perfect.  The Eucharist is God’s gift of love to us who are not worthy, who are sinners, but are grateful for the merciful love of Jesus that is shared with us.

What qualifies you to receive Communion during this liturgy?  Perhaps it is your experience of dealing with a divorce or an addiction or a relationship that has gone South or unemployment or downsizing or some disillusionment from a person you have previously trusted that qualifies you to be in need of the merciful love of Jesus that is shared with you in the mystery of the Eucharist.  Again, the Eucharist is not a prize for the perfect; it is medicine for us who are very imperfect.

In the Gospel, Jesus said to Peter:  “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.”  The first and the most important power that was given to Peter and his successors was the forgiveness of sins.

As you pray over this beautiful Gospel, may we discern that certain keys have been entrusted to each of us.   What keys has the Lord entrusted to you?  Part of the take-home message of today’s gospel is that certain keys have been entrusted to each of us.  With the keys that have been given to us, we are to open the way to Jesus for others instead of locking those doors.  We should welcome more people that we turn away and serve more people than we refuse.  Jesus comes to give us Good News that we are to share with others.

You who are parents, look no further than the sacred responsibility you have with your precious children.  You are to be the teachers of your children in the ways of faith.  How do you teach?  By the example of your life.  Your family is a little Church.  God’s love is in your family life.  May you help all in your family to recognize God moments in the beauty and struggle of family life.  As parents, what an incredible gift and responsibility you have to be beacons of hope and love in the life of your family.  I know the craziness that is going on in the world.  I regret that.  I regret that our children have to be raised in an environment of fear  -- of stranger, danger—nonetheless, may we in our family, may all of us be gifts of love and hope to all in our family and in our parish family.

As we look to receive the Eucharist in our liturgy, may the grace of Communion encourage us in those moments when we recognize and tend to the presence of Jesus in the poor.  The grace of Communion will enable us to speak out against injustice and translate our words into actions.  The grace of Communion will be there on those days when we give of ourselves to help, to listen, to serve, and to befriend.  Grace will inspire us to quiet ourselves, to pray and to allow the presence of God a place in our lives.  Grace will move us to put others and their need ahead of our own.

May the struggles of our life lead us to trust in Jesus as the source of our inner strength.    Deep within is the person God our Father dreams we can be.  May all of us commit ourselves to do what the Lord asks of us in the building of the Church.  We are to be merciful  for God has shown us mercy.

As Jesus gazes across the centuries to today, how might you respond to the question:  “Who do you say that I am?”

Have a Blessed Day.