AUGUST 23, 2026 FATHER PETER TURRONE
“You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in Heaven.”
So, a few weeks ago, our parish was on pilgrimage, and when we were going through the different churches, the beautiful shrines in Italy, of course we stopped at Saint Peter’s. We had been there many times before, but in all the churches that you go to, whether they be big or small, very often you’ll see a picture, and you always see Peter with the keys in his hands.
You can identify, if you’re not clear who it is, by virtue of the fact that he has these keys. So, what are keys? What do they represent? And why is Jesus giving them to Peter?
Well, we can go back to the first reading. If we look at the prophet Isaiah, we hear how the keys, right, the keys are being given to Eliakim. So, why is that? So, what do the keys represent?
Well, we have the king, who is in charge of the kingdom. So, the kingdom belongs to the king, you can kind of think of it this way, sort of like a prime minister. So, the king gives this authority to the prime minister.
Now, the kingdom belongs, always and only, to the king, but he gives authority to this prime minister, this person in charge. So, these keys that are given, and they’re placed on the shoulder. They’re the key to the house of David. So, this is incredibly significant, because it means that they’re given, again, this authority. They have this special responsibility to govern the household, the kingdom that belongs only and ever to the king.
So, with this in mind, and again we know, that Peter and all the other disciples, all the devout Jews, they often heard from the Prophet Isaiah, when they went to the synagogue, when they went to the temple, so they would’ve been familiar with this prophecy.
As they’re going along, and the Lord, again He’s at Caesarea Philippi, which is the place in the Jewish mind which is the furthest away from God. It’s like basically the Gates of Hell, so when they’re there, Jesus, again, asks to find out what the other people believe who He is, but more importantly, He wants to know how they respond.
There is this beautiful, beautiful moment, where Peter, under the impulse of the Holy Spirit, all right, he says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus affirms that it’s the Father is the one that reveals this through him, and Jesus goes on and He says, “You are Peter.”
My name is Peter, and so I was going through some research, in Greek, it’s “Kefas”. Jesus He created this name. So, it’s Simon who becomes “Kefas”. He says, “On Peter, I will build my church.” Isn’t that remarkable?
Imagine what Saint Peter, what was going through his mind and his heart when he hears these words. And the Lord says, “The Gates of Hell will not prevail against it.” And He says, “I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.”
So, it’s not an earthly kingdom, The Lord is giving Peter, His vicar, authority. Authority, imagine, that has an impact in Heaven as it does on earth. and of course, it’s a limited authority, but nevertheless, He’s building His church on Peter and then He’s saying that, “I’m going to give you this authority.” Think about it.
This is why the second reading makes a lot of sense in context of today’s readings. Saint Paul writes to the Romans, “O, the depth of the riches, and the wisdom, and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His judgments, and how inscrutable His ways.” Who has known the mind of the Lord?
It makes perfect sense, Because, who would’ve thought to give a good, but a very weak man, authority, this level of authority on earth, that has an impact in Heaven, that the Lord ratifies in Heaven. It’s remarkable, but this is precisely what the Lord does.
So he gives Peter this authority, and we know that Peter who has these keys not physically, they don’t hand the pope a set of keys when he becomes the pope, when he fulfills the office of Peter, right, but he’s given a ring, and is reminded of his responsibility.
It’s limited in terms of what he can do, but the holy father, when he speaks, especially ex cathedra, he’s able to preach and speak on things related to faith, and morals, and all of us as Catholics are called to accept them.
And the church that Jesus founded is founded on Peter, so where Peter is, there is the church that Christ founded.
That is why it’s so important for us as Catholics to pray for unity, not to water down the truth, but to pray for unity and ask God for the grace that we can be men and women of unity, not just amongst all Christians, our brothers and sisters that are not perfectly united with us, but even within the church.
We just have to look inwards and see. There is so much division, schism, rumours of schism. There are problems that are about, and oftentimes, we can contribute to them.
What do we post on social media? How do we speak about the holy father? How do we speak? Do we pray for the holy father? Do we fast for the holy father? Are we people of union and of communion?
It’s so important. We ask God for the grace this day to recognize, again, the importance of the papal ministry, the Petrine ministry. We pray for the holy father.
We pray for him every day at Mass. He gets prayed for at every Eucharist. We can offer up, again, in our own prayers for him.
And, also, to learn more about what it means, right? So, what his office is, and then also, how can we bring people together, already within the church and those that are not yet part of it.
And we ask Saint Peter to intercede for us.
