Father Dom Homily - 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time August 27th, 2023

Hello, all welcome to another episode of the Manly Catholic Father Dom Homily edition. This will be the Daily Readings from the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time. Hello, all welcome to another episode of the Manly Catholic Father Dom Homily edition. This will be the Daily Readings from the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time and, just like last week, I posted his 9am and 11am homilies back to back. I will do so again this week. Before we get into the Daily Readings, just wanted to send you a quick reminder about Exodus 90. Exodus 90 right now is doing what is called St Michael's Lent, so it's a 40 days before the feast day of St Michael the Archangel. It's a fantastic program. I'm doing it right now. It truly is something that every man should be doing. You can get signed up with me. Even though it has started, it is not too late to get going. And what's really cool, exodus 90 is doing all throughout St Michael's Lent. They are giving a series of live talks on the nature of spiritual warfare and how men can lean into their authority over the devil as baptized sons of God. You can hear from men who have a ton of experience dealing with exorcisms but, more importantly, experience in the daily battle against demons. You, as a man of God, can directly defeat Satan with the help of the Father, st Michael, the Archangel and your guardian angel. These talks are available exclusively on the Exodus app, so sign up today at Start my Exodus dot com. I've listened to the first two. One was by Father Carlos Martins and the second one was by I'm totally blanking on his name. Ryan is his first name, but they co-host the podcast, the Exorcist Files, which is a fantastic podcast. I highly recommend that Two amazing talks. They're also going to have Kyle Clemonon, who works very closely with Father Rippker as well, who is, as you all know, someone that Father Down and me talk about quite frequently here on the podcast, so make sure you check out Exodus 90 from the app Download today you can start for free. It's not too late to start St Michael's Lent. All that being said, let's get into the readings from the 21st Sunday in ordinary time, a reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah. Thus says the Lord T'Shebna, master of the palace, I will thrust you from your office and pull you down from your station. On that day, I will summon my servant, eliachim, son of Hulkayah. I will clothe them with your robe and gird him with your sash and give him over to your authority. He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. I will place the key of the house of David on Eliachim's shoulder. When he opens, no one shall shut. When he shuts, no one shall open. I'll fix him like a peg in a sure spot to be a place of honor for his family. The word of the Lord, the Responsorial Psalm. Lord, your love is eternal. Do not forsake the work of your hands. I will give thanks to you, o Lord, with all my heart, for you have heard the words of my mouth and the presence of the angels. I will sing your praise. I will worship at your holy temple. Lord, your love is eternal. Do not forsake the work of your hands. I will give thanks to your name because of your kindness and your truth. When I called, you answered me. You built up strength within me. Lord, your love is eternal. Do not forsake the work of your hands. The Lord is exalted, yet the lowly he sees and the proud he knows from afar. Your kindness, o Lord, endures forever. Forsake not the work of your hands, lord, your love is eternal. Do not forsake the work of your hands. A reading from the letter of Saint Paul to the Romans O the depths of the riches and the wisdom and knowledge of God, how inscrutable are his judgments and how searchable are his ways. For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor, or who has given the Lord anything that he may be repaid For from him and through him? And for him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen, the word of the Lord. Alleluia, alleluia. You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. Alleluia, alleluia. And I'll kick it over to the Father Dom Again. These are Father Dom's homily from the 21st Sunday in ordinary time, both at 9 am and 11 am Massive. Enjoy and God bless.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, good morning. I've shared with you a little bit about my conversion or reversion story into the Catholic Church, and our gospel today brings a lot of that back to the forefront of my mind, for it was this gospel reading in particular that really was a very powerful impetus of me deciding to become fully Catholic and not looking back. At 27 years old, I encountered the living God, and that set me on a trajectory of searching for the truth In the midst of a world that is trying to convert you into thinking that the truth is a lie and the lie is a truth, that the darkness is the light and the light is the darkness. We're all experiencing it, we know it, but we know where that comes from the confusion of Satan. Okay, got it. And so we fight that by staying in a state of grace and receiving the sacraments of the Church that allow us to adhere to the truth. I was hungry for the truth, so I began devouring philosophy. If you know anything about philosophy, you can go so far with philosophy, like the pre-Socratics those philosophers in Greece who were before Socrates, plato and Aristotle and as you roll into out of the pre-Socratics into the Socratic philosophy of Plato, aristotle. If you journey further into modern philosophy, you will eventually fall into theology. If you continue down that road of philosophy, you'll come into this area of contemporary philosophy where you'll discover a lot of weird teachings. So as I jumped into philosophy, I took that side road into theology. Good philosophy will always lead to theology. Stay in theology and let the foundation of philosophy, that study of what is true, it will always lead you to God, always. And it led me into theology and in theology, the study of God. It led me into the Apostolic Fathers. Who were the Apostolic Fathers? Those were the successors of the apostles. Yes, jesus taught the apostles and, as the apostles wrote, they had disciples as well. And as they taught and as they built churches, they ordained priests. Our apostles were the first bishops. Don't forget that Peter was our first pope and we'll see that in just a second as we go over our gospel. St Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, talked about him before. He was a disciple of the apostle John. So was St Polycarp. St Polycarp was born around the year 60 AD. St Ignatius, some say maybe around 40 AD. And they were disciples of the apostle John, who was taught by Jesus. So Jesus taught St John, the Apostle. St John taught that we know of in writings Ignatius and Polycarp. He handed on his apostolic succession to these guys and they wrote have you ever read any of their readings? Read them. Read them. St Ignatius of Antioch, particular, because he speaks about this gospel too. So he was a disciple of the beloved apostle St John and he was appointed Bishop of Antioch. By who? Peter? Did you know that? That's what I loved about our Catholic faith. So as I was searching for the truth 28, 29, 30, I realized that there was a God and I realized that Jesus Christ truly is God and alive in the Scriptures. But I had a problem. It's called religious pluralism. It's a heresy taught by the church Always, since the very beginning. Religious pluralism is a heresy and this heresy says this all religions lead to God. That's religious pluralism, and it's rejected by the Catholic church. It's a heresy. You know that one of the growing religions in our world today is Satanism, and it's a religion. Now, do you think Satanism leads you to God? No, so as I began to study some of these religions, trying to figure out what church Jesus Christ established to his God, because that's the church I want to follow. I quickly realized all the other religions began to crumble as I looked at Buddhism and Hinduism, even Islam. All these other religions crumbled. Why? Because none of these founders of these religions rose from the dead. Only Jesus Christ did so. Jesus Christ is God. So I said, I'm going to go back as far as I can in history and find out what these successors of the apostles taught and how they worshiped, and I fell on. St Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, st Clement of Rome, polycarp, irenaeus Organs, st Cyprian of Carthage, justin Martyr, ambrose, augustine, these are all the apostolic fathers. The apostolic fathers are those writers and martyrs, bishops, priests and the first 600 years of the church. There was no other church out there except the church that had seven sacraments baptism, confirmation, anointing of the sick, the Eucharist, holy orders and the priesthood. You can find all these seven sacraments in the gospels. In Scripture, jesus establishes these seven sacraments. And also the church that these apostolic founders, these apostolic fathers talked about, had the Eucharist, and they used the word Eucharist. St Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, talks about the Eucharist all the time. He says there is only one flesh of our Lord, jesus Christ. It's the Eucharist. There is only one cup of blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that is a chalice. And if you don't have bishops, priests or deacons, you do not have the church. He goes on to say if you find Jesus Christ, wherever you find Jesus Christ, you will find the Catholic Church. And he used the word Catholic. It's the first time in writing the earliest writings that we can find the word Catholic use. And he uses it in a nonchalant way, like everybody knows it's the Catholic Church. Everybody knows that in this Catholic Church is Jesus and everybody knows in this Catholic Church is the Eucharist and the rest of the sacraments. And he wrote this around the year 100 AD. And as I began to tiptoe closer to coming into the Catholic Church, I had no other recourse but to fully enter into it. But what pushed me over the edge? This Gospel, reading from Matthew, chapter 16, verses 13, and following Jesus, takes his disciples and says to Rhea Philippi, he turns to them and he says who do people say that I am? Some say Jeremiah, john the Baptist, one of the prophets. And then he turns to his very apostles and he says but who do you say that I am? And Peter, who speaks representative of the other twelve, got it right. He said you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus said to him blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven, simon, you are rock. That's Peter. He spoke Aramaic to his apostles. It's Kepha. He said Kepha, you are Kepha. Your name now Simon is not Simon, it's now Peter or Kepha. Rock On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I shall give you the keys to the kingdom when the whatever you buy, none there shall be bound in heaven and whatever you lose, none there shall be loosed in heaven. Wow, this could be and I've said this a lot lately when it comes to the Gospels, this could be the most powerful piece of Scripture in all of the Bible. So let's go through it line by line. Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi. Well, what is Caesarea Philippi? How many have ever been there before? To Israel and the Holy Land? Oh, couple. It never was called Caesarea Philippi, it was only Caesarea Philippi for a little while. It's way north in Israel, by Mount Hebron. At first it was called Panias, it's a Greek word for the God Pan. The God Pan is the one that looks like a goat, like half human, half goat, and plays a flute. It's a God. It's a Greek God Pan. So in Caesarea Philippi there's this huge rock, and carved into this rock is a temple for the God Pan. Before that, historians believe that it was a temple to Baal and Moloch, and we all know that those are dangerous demon gods sacrifice children to these gods. So when Alexander comes in and he conquers the area, he now makes it a temple to Pan and people from all over would come and worship to this temple. It was a beautiful temple. You could see it from miles away. Everybody from all over would come and worship to Pan and sacrifice, and inside the cave there was a deep pool and they could never find the bottom. They'd lower rocks with ropes and they could never find it, and they said that was the gateway to Hades and so they would offer sacrifices, they would throw sacrifices into this pool of water, which is one of the headwaters for the Jordan River. By the way, we all know that Jesus sanctifies the Jordan River. That goes all the way back to this temple. So when it was called Caesarea Philippi is when the Romans came in and conquered, caesar the emperor gives this territory to King Herod, who has a son named Philip, the patriarch of that area. So in honor of the temple, philip calls it Caesar, philip, caesarea, philippi. So now it becomes a Roman temple. So here comes Jesus and he brings his apostles up there to that area. And in front of this temple, a pagan temple to evil gods, jesus says who do people say that I am? He doesn't ask them right away. He says I know you talk to other people, but what do they say? Who do they say that I am? They say what's wrong, because they think Jesus is still a prophet. Then he turns to his various parcels, the ones that he picked, the first bishops, and he says who do you say that I am? And Peter, with courage, he gets it right. One of the very few times Peter gets anything right, it seems. But he got it right and he's blessed to be cubs of this. So Jesus, in return, begins to prepare Peter for something very special to become our first pope. He's given the keys. First, he's called Rock A name change is a huge deal. He's called Rock. Peter is the Rock. It's not his confession, it's not his faith. That is Rock. He is the Rock. Scripture is very specific, peter, you are Rock, not like a Rock or Rockiness, but you are Rock and I'm going to build something on you. I'm going to build my church. Who's speaking God? He's going to do what. He's going to build something on who, peter? Who is what Rock? How many churches? One church, god's church, and in that church there's a pope, and in that church he places all of the seven sacraments that we can read in previous areas of Scripture. He puts all the seven sacraments in this church. Find the seven sacraments. You will find Jesus Christ's church. Destroy his religious pluralism. There's only one church. The Holy Spirit is a spirit of unity, not disunity. Now we have over 45,000 different denominations, but only one Catholic church. That started in the Protestant Revolution. All those other churches can be traced back to either John Kelvin, john Wesley, martin Luther, zwingli that's as far as they go. They stop in the year 1520, 1530, 1560, 1650. That's it. They stop. They're all traced back to human origin. They have maybe a little bit of roots connected to the Catholic Church because they broke away and they may have shared some of the faith, but not the fullness of the faith. There's only one fullness of the faith that's the Catholic Church. St Ignatius said that Wherever Jesus is, you will find what the Catholic Church. You will find all the seven sacraments, most especially the Eucharist. You will find the succession of our popes, from Pope Francis all the way to Peter himself, an unbroken line of succession. That's our rock To bind and to loose. A secret of succession hidden in there, and we can see that in our popes, from one to another. The Holy Spirit. They're not perfect. We all know the history of the popes. They're not perfect, but they never changed doctrine or dogma. It's preserved through the power of the Holy Spirit. And then he ends with saying the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. What does that mean? It means we who are in the Catholic Church are attacking. We're attacking the Gates of Hell, we're on the offensive, and that's what the graces of the sacraments allow us to do To go into attack. What does that look like? It looks like prayer and fasting, or the vocation of marriage that you're called to, or the vocation to the religious life or the priesthood. To go and attack, that's what gives meaning to our life, and we do that with love and charity. We do that with the power and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. Beautiful, powerful reading today. I could go on and on and on about this for hours and I wish I could, but we got to get to the Eucharist. Because that's what we're here for, I encourage you to pick up the Apostolic Father writings. Read them, the first 600 years. Find those Catholic writers because they follow that Apostolic line of succession. Read them. You will truly be amazed and filled with the grace and the beauty of the Holy Spirit, knowing full well you are home and let's go out and evangelize. Let's go out and bring as many people as we can to the one true Catholic and Holy Apostolic Church. Let's bring people into this church so they too can receive the Eucharist. And it's hard sometimes, I know, but live your life with joy and happiness and gladness, knowing that you are home, because our Gospel on Pax and Reveals that today. May God bless you on this Holy Day. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, good morning. At the age of 27, I encountered the Living God. So it brought me out of a life of paganism and into at least the understanding that there is a God. Without a doubt there is a God. Well, it led me on a trajectory, a calling by God to be sure to seek the truth. I had a hunger to find the truth, to seek it out and to make it part of my life. I wanted freedom, and so this trajectory led me down a couple paths, most specifically one that led me into the Catholic Church. The reason why I say that is because our Gospel is absolutely powerful. I know I've said that every homily the past couple weeks. This is truly powerful. What's happening in our Gospel? A lot of things are happening. A lot of things are happening. What is truly happening? What is the truth in our Gospel? One, jesus Christ, who is God, establishes something. He establishes a church, not churches. One church, he also does something else he makes Peter our first Pope by giving him the keys. We'll dive into that in just a second. And I could talk for hours on this piece of Scripture, because at 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, it was quite the journey and adventure in my life, seeking the truth. Well, first it led me to philosophy, the search and the study of wisdom, reason, logic, how to think. Good philosophy before you get into the contemporaries that screwed everything up. Good philosophy will lead you to theology. If you look at the pre-Socratics, those philosophers from Greece who began to give birth to wisdom and philosophical thought before Plato, aristotle, socrates, those are the pre-Socratics. They're always pointing towards something, a singular entity that gets definition to everything, but yet they couldn't figure out what or who it was. Their Plato, socrates and Aristotle come on the scene 800, 700, 600 years before Christ and they begin to impact that singular entity in a very powerful way, pointing to something that has the creative ability over everything and there's only one. There can't be multiple of these singular entities that are all powerful. And then, when you fall into deep theology, from the saints who unpack Aristotle, plato and Socrates, now filled with the Holy Spirit, you go into theology. Good philosophy is the foundation for good theology, study, philosophy. It will eventually lead you to theology, which is the study of God. That's where it led me, and as I was studying good theology, it led me someplace else. It led me to the scriptures and then it led me to this place called the Apostolic Fathers. This was monumental in my life Because if you just read Scripture, a solar Scripture just doesn't work. Scripture alone it doesn't work. The Bible didn't even exist in the way we know it until four or five hundred years after Christ. It was the apostolic succession and the tradition and oral teaching of the church that handed on the gospel message as the churches were being built. The Bible as we know it really didn't fully exist until the Council of Trent in like 1520, 1530, 1550. It was the apostolic fathers who carried on the tradition and this is who I discovered and this unlocked everything for me. Who are the apostolic fathers? They are the successors of the apostles. Jesus taught the apostles. We see the apostles here in our gospel our first bishops. Jesus is preparing them and then, after Jesus dies, the Holy Spirit is sent. Read Acts of the Apostles. They build a church everywhere. It begins to spread. Those are his apostles here in our gospel. He's preparing them, he needs teaching them. Well then, the apostles, as they died, they had successors too. Yes, they did True. In particular that we know of quite powerfully in history St Polycarp and St Ignatius, bishop of Antioch. Ignatius of Antioch he was born around the year 40 AD. Polycarp was born around 60 AD. Do you know who their teacher was? St John the Apostle and St Peter. You can read the writings. You can read Polycarp and Ignatius's writings, and they talk about John, they talk about Peter and how they handed on what Jesus taught them to them, and they wrote about it. Peter appointed Ignatius of Antioch bishop of Antioch, and they learned from St John the Apostle everything that Jesus taught them. So, as I read the writings, there was some things that came out, very Catholic things. St Ignatius of Antioch says wherever you find Jesus Christ, you will find the Catholic Church, the earliest recording of the word Catholic. And he doesn't describe Catholic. It's like nonchalant. Everybody knows that this is the Catholic Church. He also says if there are no priests, bishops or deacons, you don't have the Church. You don't have the Church. He says there is only one bread and one flesh of our Lord, jesus Christ in the Eucharist. And he said this in the year 100 AD and he doesn't describe the Eucharist because everybody knows at that time, all the Christians know at that time, that the true Church has the Eucharist and he says there's only one cup of our Lord, only one blood of our Lord, only one chalice of our Lord, and that is in the Catholic Church. And Polycarp and St Clement of Rome, the other apostolic fathers who wrote in the year 100, 150, 100 AD, they all say the same things and they, but they don't define these terms because everybody knows, read the apostolic fathers. The apostolic fathers are the writings of the successors of the apostles, the first 600 years of the Church. Read them Polycarp, ignatius, clement, eroneus, origen, siphrion of Carthage, st John Christensome, st Ambrose, st Augustine. Read these guys. We have to know our tradition of the Church, the Catholic Church, and it's the Catholic Church that is established on Peter. In our Gospel today, the Christians were first called the people of the way, or Nazarenes, and as the Church began to build, there were other sex, heretic sex that would go against the Atlantic teaching, and so the people of the way had to begin to separate themselves from people who were heretics, talking falsely about who Jesus was in the church. So then they said we are Christians, and these Christians have held to the Catholic Church the Eucharist, the bishops, the priests and the deacons, and then later, as heresy began to arise, to arise Arianism, donatism, jansenism, all these Heresies, the church, and they called themselves Christians too. So the pure church, the pure Christians, had to step back, redefined with the church, truly taught through Jesus, and said we are not only Christians but we are kind of holy close Christians in Greek Catholic. We are the ones who are tied up to the whole, the universal church. That's what it means, kind of holy close, universal. We are universal Christians, an Unbroken line of succession. For where we are today, sitting in this church, two thousand years from Christ, backtrack 2000 years to this gospel on the rock of Peter. That is the Catholic Church, your home. I Talked about the church as an unsinkable ship a couple weekends ago and the waves that try to destroy it. It'll never destroy it because that ship is the Catholic Church and that's what Jesus is building today on Peter. So we look at our gospel today and this is what brought me into the church most fully. I accepted everything that was that the Catholic Church taught doctrine, dogmas, faith, morality everything the church taught, except the problem with the papacy Authority. I wanted to follow where the authority was Because, as I was searching the truth, after I knew there was a God, then I knew I had to find a church. So I began to look. I Didn't know where to begin out of the 45,000 different denominations in our country, didn't know where to look. I Knocked off the big ones quite quickly Buddhism, hinduism, islam, judaism Because in all those religions they didn't have Jesus and Jesus Christ's God and he rose from the dead. Muhammad didn't voted it and none of them did Jesus Christ did. So I'm gonna follow Jesus and it led me into all these different Denominations. I was so confused, where am I gonna go? Because my friends say you have to come to this church because we have the Holy Spirit. And then my friends over here pull me over to the left and say no, they don't have the Holy Spirit. We have the Holy Spirit, we have the true Holy Spirit. I'm so confused I don't know where to go. I just want to follow the truth and I was pouring over scripture. This Tit me over into the Catholic Church because I knew it was clear as day. Jesus built his church on Peter, who was our first Pope, and an unbroken line of succession From Pope Peter all the way to Pope Francis today. We all know the Pope's aren't perfect, but they never changed doctrine or dogma because it's protected by the Holy Spirit. Jesus establishes the church on Peter, who is rock. The Catholic Church is a divine institution. It is not created by man, for if it was, we could treat it as a political identity. It's a divine institution and I hear many people, mostly Catholics, say well, the Catholic Church is wrong with this or the Catholic Church is wrong with that, but the Catholic Church is bad or the Catholic Church is evil. Be careful with that language, because that's heresy. You're calling the bride of Christ, the spotless lamb, bad, and I know what people mean Men and women in a church who are sinful. They do bad and wrong things. I get it, but it's not the Catholic Church. We're part of it. Right, we need redemption for good and sins. If the Catholic Church is not a human-made institution, it's a divinely inspired institution, the bride of Christ created by Jesus here in our first gospel today, and the church is always feminine. Always St Paul talks about it as her and our Eucharistic prayer and liturgy. Today, you'll hear it her the church, she is feminine. She's a divine entity, a divine institution. That's why only men can be priests, and it has nothing to do with radical feminism or masculinity or toxic masculine hasn't leave the politics out of it. Only a man can be wed to the bride of Christ because only a man and a woman can produce fruit. And it's still in a supernatural world. All priests marry the bride of Christ. This is my ring, the collar. You ever been to ordination? It's a wedding. We are wed to the bride of Christ, the church and the fruit that is produced, the sacraments that the priest gives you. A Lot can be unpacked. And I'm digressing right now because I could speak for hours on this piece of scripture that brought me into the Catholic Church. And I'm not alone with this. There are so many people who have brought into the Catholic Church through this. So, as we look at our gospel today, jesus takes his disciples to Cesario Philippi and he says to them who do people say that I am? Well, some say John the Baptist, jeremiah, elijah, one of the prophets. Then Jesus turns to his apostles and said but who do you say that I am? Peter said you are the Christ, the son of the living God. The Jesus says blessed are you, simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father in heaven. You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. The gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I shall give you the keys to the kingdom and whatever you bind on nurse shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you lose on there shall be Loosed in heaven. That's 100% USDA, certified, homegrown, free rage. Non-gmo Catholic church teaching. Sink your teeth into that, you will be nourished. Don't know where that came from. I am a health freak anyway. Cesaria Philippi, wade north in in Israel at the at the foothills of Mount Hebron. How many have ever been there? It's Bagnos today. It's not Cesaria Philippi. Any of you been there Before? It was Cesaria Philippi. The Canaanites worshiped and sacrificed. Historians think that Canaanite gods of Ba'al and Molluk worshiped here at this huge rock that's still there. A river flowed underneath it because there's the cave that goes in it, and the water comes out of a great big pool. That's in the bottom and we all know. But all the Molluk are demon gods and to appease these gods, the Canaanite sacrificed children. Unfortunately, ba'al and Molluk are still alive in our culture today through abortion. So the Greeks conquer, and they name it Pagnos after the Greek god Pan. That's the human looking figure like half goat plays a flute. He is the, he is the god of, of, of flocks and shepherd and sheep. And when they sacrificed to Pan, there's a deep pool in the cave and they could never find the bottom. They would lower rocks with rope, they could never find the bottom. So they came to the conclusion that this is the gateway to Hades, the netherworld to hell, and this is where the gods came up and down. And so they had to sacrifice by throwing sacrifices into this pool. And if blood came out of the cave down the river, the gods rejected your sacrifice. By the way, that creek that comes out of the cave, that river, that's part of the, the headwaters for the Jordan river that Jesus sanctifies. So this is Caesarea Philippi, now Named after Caesar, in the tetraearch of that area, philip Caesarea Philippi. The romans are there now and it's still a beautiful, huge temple. They added onto it. You can see it from miles away. So Jesus takes his disciples up there and he's doing something very particular. He places his apostles far away from the temple, the pagan temple. They can't enter it. They'll be unclean their Jews. So he's pointing to the temple and he says who do you say that I am? They get it wrong, but Peter gets it right and all the gospels you can see Peter begin to speak, representative of the 12, because Jesus is preparing him to lead the apostles by being the first pope. Jesus got it right you are the christ, jesus is God and he knows that. Now, because of Jesus's understanding of who he is, jesus now begins to fully prepare him, saying Peter, you are rock. He spoke to his apostles at air make an air make. He says not Peter, he says you are kefa and on this kefa, I will build my church. He doesn't say church is singular, he says church. Religious pluralism has always been a heresy in the church. Religious pluralism says that all religions lead to God. The church has always rejected that. Did you know that one of the growing religions in our country today is saintism and the occult? Do you think these religions in the government has said saintism as a religion now Right, they have rights. Do you think they lead to God? No, there's only one church and it's the Catholic church. We have brothers and sisters who share in faith in many ways, in shape or form, but we need to bring them back into the one true church. So Peter is rock and on Peter God will build his church, the catholic church, and he says the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. He's pointing to the temple, into the jews, that entrance into the pool that led down to hades, that was the gates of hell. So jesus points to the temple and they say you know that gate in there where all the false demons come and go, that won't prevail against my church. The gates of hell shall not prevail against the church. That means we're attacking, that means the catholic church is going after Satan and all the evil that he brings into this world. St Ignatius, bishop of antiax, said Wherever you find jesus christ, you will find the catholic church. What he meant by that? He meant Wherever you find all seven sacraments instituted by jesus christ. And you can find seven sacraments, not six, not eight, seven and all the gospels. I don't have time to go through them and where they are, but you can. So wherever you find the seven sacraments, that'll be the church. How do we attack the gates of hell? Through the sacraments, through reconciliation, through the eucharist, we get these graces. Jesus set it up in a very specific way in his church to help us unpack that power we have in us to build the kingdom of god. And we do that in a vocation that he calls us to Marriage the religious life, the priesthood, and we do it with the power of the holy spirit, with the fruits and the gifts that are unpacked in our baptism. Everything is here in the church for us, not only for salvation but to go out into convert who, everyone. I said that at an easter sermon one day and I had a young man come up to me very angry and say how dare you say that everyone needs to be part of the catholic church? And I tried to explain to him the beauty of the Eucharist. Don't you want your, your friends and your family and strangers to receive the Eucharist just like us? I do. That's one of the reasons why I became a priest. I want everyone to receive the Eucharist. I want everyone to be catholic. That's the goal of the catholic church and jesus is setting it up here. So, on top of making peter the rock, he gives him the keys. That's the papacy. The keys are handed on in succession to all the popes, unbroken line of succession from peter to to to pope frances today. Amazing, there's so much that can be pulled from our gospel today. I just want to challenge you and encourage you. Find the apostolic father writings and you can just google it, apostolic father writings and read them. Pour yourself. Over them, most specifically Ignatius of anti-acpolycarp, clement. You can find all their writings and they're just like the epistles, just like st Paul, they sound just like that. They're not inspired, but man, will they help you? I could talk forever on this, uh, but we're here for the Eucharist and so, um. May god bless you on this holy day and may the father and son in the holy spirit.