Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul

Fr. Mark Gatto

Preached: June 29, 2025

“On this rock I will build my Church.” The plan of God, the plan revealed in Jesus, included the Church. Two of the great figures who were crucial to the initial building of the Church were Peter and Paul. These two great figures who began what we continue today. In the readings for this Feast we hear of Paul as one who proclaimed the Gospel to the Gentiles and who finished the race and kept the faith. Jesus calls Simon and names him Peter, the rock upon which he will build his Church.

The Church today continues to keep the memory of God alive in our world. But, perhaps more important than ever, the Church is called to work to protect human dignity. We are in the world, where once again war and weapons are the path we human beings are choosing. God is not on any side in these wars. God is only on the side of the many children being killed or suffering. God is on the side of the young soldiers required to fight in these wars which are the failure of leaders. In these wars, the dignity of human beings is ignored, the dignity of the human beings on the other side is not recognized.

The Church must be a body that defends all human dignity. God entered our human reality and so the Gospel message clearly reveals the great dignity of human beings. But, we easily forget or ignore the dignity of human beings who are not on our side.

Pope Leo speaks often about the dangers of Artificial Intelligence. This issue is also about human dignity. Robots, machines, algorithms, these cannot take the place of basic human dignity.

During my recent trip to Europe I went to the city of Turin. While there I prayed at the chapel where the Shroud of Turin is kept. There I saw a prayer which I really liked.

“O God our Father, the figure of the Shroud sends us back to the sufferings inflicted on your Son, Jesus, who has taken on himself the sorrows of every human being. Help us to see Him in every person, …”

If we are going to be near to Jesus, if we are going to know Jesus, we need to see Jesus in every person. We need to care for Jesus in each person. The dignity of the human being is the heart of the Gospel and a mission of the Church today is to protect human dignity.

The Mass is the primary way that we the Church assemble together. The Mass is quietly very valuable in protecting human dignity. For many of us it is the one hour when we are not focused on our cell phones and social media. It is the one time when we are together with people of all ages, from seniors in their 90’s to little babies. Teenagers, young adults and middle ages. It is the one time when we are together with people of all different races and cultures. It is a time when rich and poor and people of different backgrounds are together.

This Mass is the way that the Church that Jesus began to build on the rock of Peter and in the Apostle Paul continues to be visible in our world today. The Mass builds up the Church and it leads us to recognize our own human dignity and the dignity of all human beings.

Jesus had a plan for a Church which would be built on the rock of Simon Peter. It is the Church that we continue to build up today. In the Mass this Church is made visible. This Church is th plan of Jesus to keep the Gospel alive, to remind the world of the fundamental dignity of human beings.