Church at Home / Home at Church (2026-09-06, Sunday-23)

[ver_06]   23^rd Sunday _Year A 

1. The Keys — Christ Builds, We Participate

A few Sundays ago, Jesus said to Peter, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church.” And then Jesus gave Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven.

Notice that Jesus says, “I will build my Church.”

Christ is the builder. But Peter is called to participate in the building. That's part of what the keys represent: responsibility.

You and I have many keys—keys to our homes, our cars, perhaps our workplaces. Today we also have passwords, PIN numbers and access codes. Some of us probably have dozens we're supposed to keep track of.

Different keys open different things. And when we're given a key, something has been entrusted to us.

Perhaps that's also a way of thinking about our homes.

The Catholic tradition calls the Christian home a domestic church—a little church. God is the one who builds, but we're called to participate in what that home becomes.

So what are we building in our homes?

2. The Altar — Called to Sacrifice

Here in church, we have an altar.

You probably don't have a marble altar in your kitchen. But the altar reminds us of sacrifice. And our homes are places where we're called to sacrifice for one another.

Years ago, a friend of mine who became a doctor described medicine as a calling. He said, “I'm on call. People can call me in the middle of the night.”

That's true. But there's something more to being called.

To be called means that somebody needs us.

The call comes from beyond ourselves.

We may be called to wake up in the middle of the night for a child. We may be called to care for someone who is aging or sick. We may be called to prepare a meal, help somebody with a problem, or simply listen because somebody needs us.

Our kitchen table isn't the altar of the Eucharist. But the sacrificial love we celebrate at this altar is meant to accompany us home.

The altar reminds us: we are called to sacrifice.

3. The Pews — Quiet and Silence

Here in church, we also have pews.

When we sit in a pew, we're reminded that we've entered a place of prayer. We become quiet enough to listen.

And our homes need some silence too.

Certainly we can have entertainment. We might even have a very large television in the living room. There's nothing wrong with that.

But we don't want the entertainment center to become the spiritual center of the home.

Sometimes we need to fast a little from entertainment—to turn things off and make room for silence.

We need silence to listen to God. And when we live with others, we need silence to listen to one another.

Sometimes the longer people live together—in a marriage, a family or a long friendship—the fewer words they need. They can sometimes communicate with a look or simply by being present.

The pew reminds us: make room for quiet, silence and prayer.

4. The Confessional — Contrition and Conversion

And here in church, we also have a confessional.

Of course, we don't have confessionals in our homes, and the home does not replace the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

But perhaps the home is one of the first places where we learn contrition and conversion.

That's where today's Gospel becomes very practical.

Jesus says, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.”

Notice where Jesus begins.

He doesn't say: tell everybody else.

He says: go to the person.

We might remember it this way:

Before we talk about the person, talk to the person.

Certainly there are situations where we need advice or help from others. Even Jesus gives additional steps when the private conversation doesn't resolve the problem.

But whenever possible, the first movement is toward the person.

Why?

Jesus says, “If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.”

5. Winning Back the Person

That's an important kind of winning.

We can win an argument and lose a relationship.

We can prove that we're right and accomplish very little.

Jesus gives us another goal:

not simply to win the argument, but, if possible, to win back the person.

And that requires humility on both sides.

Sometimes I need to say, “You hurt me.”

Sometimes I need enough humility to hear somebody say to me, “You hurt me.”

The home should be a place where we can learn some very important words:

“I was wrong.”

“I'm sorry.”

“Please forgive me.”

And perhaps:

“Can we talk?”

Contrition means recognizing that something needs to change. Conversion means allowing God to lead us toward that change.

6. We Cannot Unlock Another Person's Heart

But notice something else Jesus says:

“If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.”

If he listens.

We aren't in control of another person's response.

We can speak the truth. We can listen. We can apologize. We can forgive. We can pray.

But we cannot unlock another person's heart.

No key in my pocket can do that. No password can do that. And even the right words, spoken with the best intentions, cannot force another person to change.

The love of Christ is a key that can open the human heart. We are called to share that love and cooperate with God's grace.

But ultimately, God does the work.

Sometimes we may do everything we reasonably can to reconcile with someone, and reconciliation doesn't happen—at least not yet.

That doesn't necessarily mean we've failed.

Our responsibility is to use faithfully the keys Christ gives us: sacrifice, prayer, truth, mercy and forgiveness.

We cannot force the lock.

7. Christ Is the Builder

And that brings us back to where we began.

Jesus says, “I will build my Church.”

Christ is the builder.

We participate.

At the altar, we learn sacrifice.

In the pew, we learn quiet, silence and prayer.

Through confession and reconciliation, we learn contrition and conversion.

And we bring those things home with us.

We participate in building homes and relationships in which people can sacrifice for one another, listen to one another, forgive one another, and begin again.

But we don't build the domestic church by ourselves.

We don't convert another person's heart by ourselves.

Christ is already there in the midst of us, building us and working through us.

And so Jesus says:

“Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”