In Matthew 16:19, Jesus entrusts Peter with “the keys to the kingdom,” giving him responsibility and leadership despite his human imperfections.
Although it would be crazy to compare my responsibilities to the magnitude of Peter’s, we all may share concerns and hesitations amid our Divine, precious entrustments.
Jesus doesn’t say, “Peter, once you become perfect, I will give you the keys.” Jesus entrusts Peter while he is still becoming the disciple Jesus calls him to be. Even in the very end of their relationship, Peter denied Jesus three times, but Jesus still trusted him with the future of the people of God!
As the Director of Music and Liturgy at St. Isidore, I am entrusted with a microcosm of the people of God. 2026 marks my 20th year working here, and although I have felt truly called to this ministry, I have not always felt totally adept or capable! Like Peter, I am still learning to become the complete disciple Jesus wants me to be.
It can be overwhelming to think about how one’s ministry affects the worship and prayer of an entire parish community. I sometimes struggle with anxiety when there are important and complex decisions to make, people to coordinate, expectations to balance, and inevitable moments when someone is disappointed with me. Ugh! There is always a dose of humility when I realize that I cannot possibly do everything myself—that this ministry of God’s people depends upon the gifts of God’s people. It is okay to ask for help because we are many parts and all members of the Body of Christ.
An absolute highlight of this year was the final Mass we celebrated together for Fr. Ron’s retirement farewell on Sunday, July 12. After much planning and coordination with so many ministers, staff members, and parishioners, we came together to celebrate, pray, and worship in a quintessential Mass experience that I will never forget. The church was filled with over 900 assembly members embracing and exemplifying full, active, and conscious participation through their attentiveness, enthusiastic responses to prayer, and some of the most powerful singing I have ever experienced from an assembled body. I found myself floating out of the experience, asking, “Why can’t Mass be like this every week?” It was truly amazing!
Mountaintop experiences like this remind me that I am blessed to be part of something so wonderful, so beautiful, and so eternal that there is really no other place for me. Moments of doubt, uncertainty, and self-disappointment pale in comparison to the enormous trust that God has in me, right where He wants me to be. I must not give in to my human weakness but continue to trust that God is with me, that He will continue to guide me, and that the people of our parish will support me through their prayerful help. The Body of Christ sustains me always.
Maybe Jesus was saying to Peter, and is still saying to me, “I am entrusting this to you. Stay close to me.”
