Vicar General: Use your keys to open doors of Mercy

By Klysha Best

On the Feast Day of Santa Rosa de Lima, the patroness of the Americas, Msgr Martin Sirju used his homily at the Santa Rosa RC Church, Arima to inspire the congregation to see themselves as active participants in building the kingdom of God.

Drawing from the first reading of Isaiah and the Gospel of Matthew, Msgr Sirju painted a vivid contrast between two stewards of the “key of David”, Shebna and Eliakim, and used their stories to illuminate a message for the modern Church.

“Shebna was an arrogant man,” Msgr Sirju said. “He was not at all humble. He stole wealth from the king’s coffers so as to aggrandise himself.”

But God, he noted, saw the arrogance and deception, and removed the key from Shebna, giving it instead to Eliakim, a humble, honest man who served faithfully.

“The key is not to be identified with exploitation, with arrogance, with harshness,” he said. “The key is not to be identified with power and authority alone, but with service.”

The Vicar General drew the congregation’s attention to a critical detail: while the Old Testament speaks of a single key, the Gospel speaks of keys, plural.

“Whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on Earth shall be considered loosed in Heaven,” he said, quoting Matthew’s Gospel. “The Church has been given keys.”

He acknowledged that the Church has not always used these keys well. “For about 500 years, we behaved as if we had some of the keys, and that some were to our advantage and not to the advantage of others,” he said, referencing the ugly history of colonialism and the mistreatment of Indigenous peoples.

But he noted that the Second Vatican Council, under Pope John XXIII, was a moment of rediscovery.

“Pope John XXIII felt we have had too much of that Church. We want a Church that has all the keys and that will open all the doors,” he said.

He cited the doors opened by Vatican II: ecumenism, dialogue with non-Christian religions, and a rejection of war. “Pope Francis brought back those keys and opened the door once more—the door of mercy, the door of hospitality, the door to migrants.”

Msgr Sirju then stated: “Not only the Pope possesses keys, but everybody here also possesses keys as well,” he said. “You have your car key. You have the key for your house. You have keys for different things.”

He invited the faithful to consider how they are using their keys. “Are you using those keys? Are you using a variety of keys so as to build up the kingdom of God?”

He challenged them to open doors of hospitality, reconciliation, and mercy.

“How does husband speak to wife? How does wife speak to husband? How do children speak to parents? How do parents speak to children?” he asked. “What are we using the keys for? The keys have to open things that build up.”

He concluded with a reflection on St Rose of Lima, whose name means ‘rose’.

“Plant the roses,” he said. “Because the roses have a smell. It is beautiful. It is sweet-scented.”

He quoted St Paul: “Use those keys to make of yourselves a fragrant offering, accepted to the Father in Heaven.”