Rejoice With Jerusalem: The New Creation and The Kingdom Of God – 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Sermon by Father Levine

Fr. Joseph Levine; Holy Family Catholic Church and Missions, Burns, Oregon; June 29, 2025

There is a fringe group that calls itself “Catholic”. They are called “sedevacantists”, meaning believers in the “empty chair”; they say that there has been no legitimate Pope since Pope Pius XII who died in 1958. They say that what the rest of the world recognizes as the Catholic Church has since then become a complete fraud, a massive deception. Yet this nearly invisible group regards itself as being the remnant of the true Church; they say they are Catholic, even though they have no Pope. Catholic and no Pope. Imagine that!

Well, for a short space of time at the end of April and beginning of May, there was no Pope. We were in between Popes. That happens. Once it actually took three years before the Cardinals could decide on a new Pope. Still, when there has been no Pope, there has been a path to getting a new Pope, even if sometimes it takes a little longer than usual. There have been good Popes and bad Popes, great saints also, and depraved sinners. But there have always been Popes. Yes, there have at times been “Anti-Popes”, but when there has been an “Anti-Pope”, there has also been a true Pope, though it has not always been evident at the moment which was which. But no Pope at all! And that for more than 60 years!

I talk about this because the Catholic Church is a visible historical unity in this world and this visible unity is founded in the institution of the papacy. The absurdity of sedevacantism calls our attention to the reality that is so obvious that we can easily miss it.

Here we are in Burns, Oregon, in Holy Family Catholic Church. What makes this to be a Catholic church?

Well, this church and parish was established by the authority of the Bishop of Baker, a Roman Catholic Bishop, of a Roman Catholic Diocese. What makes the Bishop of Baker to be a Roman Catholic Bishop? His appointment by the authority of the Pope of Rome. So it is with every Catholic bishop and every Catholic diocese, even the eastern rite bishops and dioceses.

In this Catholic church, the Mass is celebrated, and in the Eucharistic prayer, two names are always mentioned, the name of the current Pope, Leo, and local Bishop, which in Baker is Liam.

That is the Catholic Church as a visible institution in the world today. Yet that visible reality is continuous with a historical reality extending back to the time of the Apostles. We have a list of every Pope since the time of Peter. The historical veracity of that list is not really contested. During that whole time there have also been Catholic bishops together with and under the Pope. That visible hierarchical reality, that visible unity under the Pope is a unique and extraordinary fact.

To this reality the words of our Lord apply: the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. We have two translations: “hell” or “netherworld”. Neither death nor the devil shall prevail. The Church, founded upon Peter, who is founded upon Christ, will neither be corrupted nor destroyed.

She will preserve intact until the end of the world the faith of Peter – You are the Christ, the Son of the living God – the faith that is not the product of flesh and blood but comes from God. The Church will preserve intact that faith in its fullness, with all its consequences, all the teaching and sacraments, given us by Christ, together with the hierarchical institution of the Church. The Church visibly founded upon Peter guarantees our ability to cleave to the faith handed on once for all to the saints, (Jd 3) and so cleave, like Peter, to Christ himself, and thus attain our salvation.

Nor shall the Church ever be destroyed as a visible institution in this world except as the visible Body of Christ was destroyed upon the Cross. Should the Church one day completely follow her Lord to the point of death on the Cross, then Christ himself will come in judgement; the curtain will come down upon this world and the dead will be raised and brought before the judgment seat of Christ and so pass either to everlasting damnation or eternal life.

All this is a matter of faith founded upon a visible historical fact, but faith reaches through the visible to the invisible reality of the Church, the mystical Body of Christ, and the invisible reality of the promise.

It is not always evident that the gates of hell shall not prevail.

In today’s first reading it might well have seemed like the gates of hell were about to prevail as Peter was thrown into prison and destined to execution. How could the infant Church sustain such a blow and survive? But Peter was delivered from the power of Herod, delivered in answer to the prayers of the Church – which teaches us how important it is for us to pray for the Pope.

Yet while Peter was delivered from the power of Herod, many years later he was not delivered from the power of Nero, but was crucified upside down in the Circus of Nero in the Vatican. Yet, in fact, he was delivered from the power of Nero in just the same way as St. Paul.

I am already being poured out like a libation, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his appearance. …The Lord will rescue me from every evil and will bring me safe to his heavenly kingdom.

The whole visible unified structure of the Church in this world exists that, like St. Paul and like St. Peter, we might compete well, finish the race, keep the faith, and so attain the crown of righteousness in the heavenly kingdom. For this St. Peter shed his blood in Rome; for this St. Paul shed his blood.

On the crown of the façade of St Peter’s is a statue of Christ with his Cross calling out, as it were, to the saints arrayed on either side, and to us, “Come, follow me.” Follow me on the way of the Cross to the crown of glory.