“Marriage: the Number One Weapon in the Fight to Defeat Evil”
Homily, Married Couples’ Anniversary Mass
Feast of the Chair of St. Peter
February 22, 2025; St. Mary’s Cathedral
Resumen en español
Introduction
It is a happy common custom for couples to do something special to celebrate their wedding anniversaries. I’m sure you all do that yourselves. It is good periodically to reflect back on those special pivotal moments of life, to help us renew our life commitment.
Head and Pastor
It was also a custom in ancient times for a local church to celebrate a special feast day on the anniversary of the consecration and enthronement of their bishop. Which explains the origin of the feast day we celebrate today: the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, Apostle. It was certainly celebrated locally in Rome, but given the responsibility of the Bishop of Rome for the universal Church, it has also been observed by the entire Church starting in the early centuries.
The chair, of course, represents teaching authority, an authority that our Lord gave to all of the apostles, but with a certain primacy to Peter. We see that foundational scene in today’s Gospel reading: in response to Peter’s confession of faith, our Lord proclaims him the rock on which he will build his Church and he entrusts to him the keys of the Kingdom of heaven. Thus Peter, and his successors, the popes, have the role of headship over the whole College of Bishops, the successors to the apostles.
Peter himself, though, makes it clear what this means in his first letter, as we heard in the first reading for today’s Mass: “Tend the flock of God in your midst, overseeing not by constraint but willingly, … not for shameful profit but eagerly. Do not lord it over those assigned to you, but be examples to the flock.” This is the characteristically Christian approach to leadership: the head must sacrifice himself for the body, following the pattern set for us by Christ himself. Leadership must be this way in every sector of the Church. But, ultimately, what is this for?
The Attack on Hell
Our Lord makes the famous promise to Peter right after proclaiming him the rock on which he would build his Church: “the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” The “netherworld,” that is, the underworld, Hades, the abode of the dead. We know it now as the place of hell. We rightly understand this to mean the promise that the devil will never bring down the Church. True, but let’s look at this more closely.
What is the purpose of a gate? Ancient cities commonly had gates surrounding them. They were there to keep out the enemy. Gates are a defensive structure, not something a city could use to attack its enemies. So when our Lord says that the gates of the netherworld, or of hell, “will not prevail against” the Church, what it really means is that the devil will not be able to stop the Church from overcoming and conquering him. It is really an image that goes on the offense, more than something defensive. As disciples of our Lord, we are to defeat evil in the world. And how do we do that? By living our vocation faithfully and well.
Christ established the College of Apostles with Peter as its head, so that they in turn could pass on their teaching authority to their successors, the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, and the bishops in communion with him. This is essential to the Church, because it is the guarantee for the conservation of the faith. But it is not the only thing that is essential. How is it, really, that the faith is handed on?
Yes, there are many ways, many initiatives of the Church in terms of schools and universities and faith formation and the like. But there is only one primary and most effective way: it always starts in the family. It is in the family, based on marriage, more than anywhere else that the faith is preserved intact and handed on to the next generation. That is why the devil hates marriage, and always seeks to destroy it. And that is why you, my dear brothers and sisters, married couples, are the Church’s number one weapon in the attack on hell! By living your vocation of marriage faithfully and well, the devil is defeated and God’s goodness and truth reigns supreme.
This means living your marriage in a rightly ordered manner, in keeping with God’s plan. We call the Bishop of Rome “Father,” “Papa.” The call to be a shepherd is to be a father to the soles entrusted to him. And so it is the father of the family is the shepherd to his wife and children; he is the priest of the family, who mediates the children’s relationship to God, and he is to do so as St. Peter instructs: “not by constraint but … eagerly,” not by “lord[ing] it over” his family but by being an example to them. As Christ is the bridegroom of the Church, so the man represents Christ in the family. And as the Church is his bride, so the woman represents the principle of the Church to the family, fostering the communion of the family, being the bearer of life who brings new children into the family, who nurtures them with her own milk, and continues to nurture the whole family with her love, warmth, and tender loving care. Each is essential and equal, a complementary union that God designed for the defeat of evil and our eternal happiness.
God’s Timing
Thank you, then, for your commitment to your marriage. It is the most powerful weapon in the Church’s arsenal for defeating evil in the world. And even if you feel like you don’t measure up at times – after all, all of us stumble along the way in livng our vocations – there is hope. Consider again what Peter told his fellow pastors: to oversee the flock of God “not by constraint but willingly.” Could it be he was preaching to himself? Peter was resistant for a very long time. Even after the Resurrection, after the Lord had appeared to him in his glory, he still was hesitant.
Remember the last chapter of the Gospel of St. John: “I am going fishing.” Even after all that, Peter returned to the life that he had before. And then when he encounters his Lord on the shore and our Lord asks Peter if he loves him, there is still hesitation. Jesus uses the word for “love” that means a total self-sacrifice of oneself, as he gave himself in crucifixion for us: agape. When Peter responds that, yes, he does love him, he uses the word for love in the sense of friendship: philios. The truth is, Peter was horrified of crucifixion, and did not want to follow his Lord there, precisely the prophecy the Lord gave him in this scene of his call to follow Jesus and tend his sheep.
Peter did, though, get there. When the Lord poured out the Holy Spirit upon the Church at Pentecost, Peter was emboldened to proclaim him and his Gospel without fear, even to the point of fulfilling our Lord’s prophecy to him that he would die a death like his: crucifixion. Love can overcome every fear. It is good, then, to celebrate anniversaries, to renew commitments by reliving the memories of that initial fire of commitment. It can help us to persevere and willingly, even joyfully, lay down our lives for the one we love. With this, there is no way that the gates of hell can keep the Church away from overcoming it.
SUMMARY IN SPANISH
En la antigüedad, era costumbre que las iglesias locales celebraran una fiesta especial en el aniversario de la consagración y entronización de su obispo. Esto explica el origen de la fiesta que celebramos hoy: la Fiesta de la Cátedra de San Pedro, Apóstol. Ciertamente se celebraba localmente en Roma, pero dada la responsabilidad del Obispo de Roma por la Iglesia universal, también se observa en toda la Iglesia desde los primeros siglos.
La cátedra, por supuesto, representa la autoridad de enseñar, una autoridad que nuestro Señor dio a todos los apóstoles, pero con una cierta primacía a Pedro. Vemos esa escena fundamental en la lectura del Evangelio de hoy: en respuesta a la confesión de fe de Pedro, nuestro Señor lo proclama la piedra sobre la que edificaría su Iglesia y le confiaría las llaves del Reino de los cielos. Allí es donde nuestro Señor le hace la promesa a Pedro de que “las puertas del infierno no prevalecerán contra” la Iglesia. Pensemos en eso.
¿Cuál es el propósito de una puerta? Las ciudades antiguas comúnmente tenían puertas que las rodeaban. Estaban allí para mantener alejado al enemigo. Las puertas son una estructura defensiva, no algo que una ciudad podría usar para atacar a sus enemigos. Así que cuando nuestro Señor dice que las puertas del infierno “no prevalecerán contra” la Iglesia, lo que realmente quiere decir es que el diablo no podrá impedir que la Iglesia lo venza y lo conquiste. Es realmente una imagen que va a la ofensiva, más que a la defensiva. Como discípulos de nuestro Señor, debemos derrotar al mal en el mundo. ¿Cómo se hace? Viviendo nuestra vocación fielmente y bien.
Y es por eso que ustedes, mis queridos matrimonios, tienen un papel tan importante. Es en la familia más que en cualquier otro lugar donde la fe se conserva intacta y se transmite a la siguiente generación. Y la familia tiene su fundamento en el matrimonio. Es por eso que el diablo odia el matrimonio y siempre busca destruirlo. ¡Pero eso también significa que ustedes, como parejas casadas, son el arma número uno de la Iglesia en el ataque al infierno! Cuando se vive fiel y bien la vocación matrimonial, el demonio es derrotado y reinan supremamente la bondad y la verdad de Dios.
Gracias, pues, por su compromiso con su matrimonio. Es el arma más poderosa del arsenal que la Iglesia tiene para derrotar al mal en el mundo. Es bueno, pues, celebrar los aniversarios, renovar los compromisos reviviendo los recuerdos de aquel fuego inicial del compromiso. Puede ayudarnos a perseverar y a entregarnos voluntariamente – como dice San Pedro en la primera lectura – incluso con alegría, entregando nuestra vida por el que amamos. Con esto, no hay manera de que las puertas del infierno impidan que la Iglesia triunfe.
Conclusion
It is good to celebrate our anniversaries, and good that we do so communally today, especially those of you who are celebrating milestone anniversaries. I would therefore like to invite at this time our director for Marriage and Family Life, Ed Hopfner, to come forward to acknowledge these couples. I will then lead you in a renewal of your marriage vows and bless the rings you exchanged on that day as a sign of your abiding love for and commitment to each other.