21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Authority is a theme in our readings today – in both our first reading and Gospel “keys” are spoken of, symbolic of a position of authority. This time of Coronavirus has led to a lot of discussion about who has authority: who’s in charge of what, to what extent can a governor proclaim a state of emergency, what rulings and content are under the authority of state Supreme Courts , what authority does the CDC have, how much authority does a governor have to mandate action, who has the authority to enforce those mandates?  For as much as we like to talk about all these things and weigh in with our opinion, the truth is that we individually have almost no authority in changing overall societal response to Covid.  I think that we as humans (me included) really enjoy talking about how others should use their authority and what decisions they should be making, but we really don’t enjoy confronting how we are neglecting to use OUR God-given authority!  So what exactly is the authority that God has given to each of us?  Listen to find out!