Today, we celebrate two pillars of the Church: Peter and Paul — two very different men, united by one faith, one Lord, and one mission. Their feast is not only a celebration of their greatness, but of God’s power to transform closed hearts and fearful lives into bold witnesses of the Gospel.
The Gospel today gives us a striking contrast — between closing and opening. Jesus gives Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Keys can lock… but more importantly, they can unlock. And Jesus entrusts Peter not with the power to exclude, but with the mission to open — to open the doors of the Church, the doors of mercy, the doors of hope.
In Peter’s life, we see how often he wanted to close: to close his heart out of fear, to close his mind to the mystery of the Cross, to close his eyes in the courtyard where he denied Jesus. But Jesus never closed the door to Peter. He prayed for him, looked at him with mercy, and lifted him up again and again. “I have prayed for you, Peter, that your faith may not fail.”
This is how the Church is built — not by perfection, but by mercy. Not by closing off, but by opening up. The keys are not a trophy — they are a responsibility. Jesus entrusts his Church to a man who had failed. Why? So that no one would ever feel excluded from his love.
Let us remember also Paul — the great apostle to the Gentiles. His whole life was a journey outward. From the closed certainties of a Pharisee to the wide, open horizons of the Gospel. His past did not imprison Paul. Even when he was in chains, his heart was free. “The Lord stood by me,” he says, “and gave me strength.” This is the strength of grace, the strength that opens us up to love even those who persecute us, to preach even when no one listens, to hope even when death is near.
Peter and Paul, brothers not by blood but by mission. One a fisherman, the other a scholar. One impulsive, the other sharp with words. Yet both were captured by the same love and set free by the same Spirit.
They teach us that holiness is not uniformity, but communion. They show us that the Church is built not on stone or strategy, but on hearts open to Christ.
Today, we are reminded that we too are part of this same journey. The journey of an open Church, a missionary Church, a Church of keys that open — not walls that divide.
So let us ask ourselves: Are we gatekeepers or door-openers? Do we allow God to surprise us? Prayer is the key that opens us. Let us ask Saints Peter and Paul to intercede for us, that we may be a Church not of fear, but of faith; not of rigidity, but of mercy.
Lord, open our hearts as you opened theirs. Amen.
Father Josekutty Mathew CMF
