Living Stones

Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Easter

“Come to him, a living stone…” 

That single line from 1 Peter opens a doorway into today’s entire set of readings. If you hold onto that image—Christ as the living stone—everything else begins to fall into place.

Peter is writing to a community that feels small, scattered, and sometimes unsure of its place in the world. They are neither powerful nor influential. They are not the ones anyone would expect to shape history yet we have lived long enough to know that Christianity did shape history. Peter tells them something yet more astonishing: you are being built into a spiritual house. You are not just followers of Christ—you are stones in the very structure God is building. And then he goes even further: “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own.” This is not flattery. It is our identity, our vocation, and our mission. Peter begins with Christ: the stone rejected by human builders but chosen and precious in God’s sight. Because Jesus is the living stone, we, his followers, are also described in this fashion.

What does Peter mean in describing us as a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Peter’s message is not that Christ is the living stone and we are passive bricks stacked nearby. He says we are living stones too because we share in His identity. A stone has a purpose only when it is placed into a structure. A Christian has a purpose only when they are part of the Body.

We have taken the place of the chosen people because they rejected what he have accepted. We share in the priesthood of Jesus through Baptism. When you offer your daily work, your struggles, your joys to God—you exercise your priesthood. When you pray for a friend, a child, a stranger—you exercise your priesthood. When you bring Christ into your workplace, your home, your conversations—you exercise your priesthood. The ordained priesthood serves the Church by making the sacraments possible. The baptismal priesthood serves the world by making Christ visible wherever they go. Peter is saying: This is who you are. Live it.

Peter calls also us a holy nation. He is not referring to the country we live in. Christians have been set apart from the world, which is what the word “holy” means. Anything that is holy or sacred is not of this world. We are, therefore, citizens of a nation set apart because we are a people shaped by God’s rule, united by faith rather than ethnicity.

This is why Peter calls us a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Not because we all stand at the altar, but because every baptized person is meant to offer their life—work, relationships, joys, struggles—as a spiritual sacrifice to God. Your daily life is not separate from your faith; it is the very material God uses to build His kingdom.

In the Gospel, Jesus speaks to disciples who are anxious and confused. He tells them, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” Not because everything will be easy, but because He is the foundation that will not crumble. He prepares a place for them. He shows them the Father. He promises that whoever believes in Him will do the works He does—and even greater ones. Greater works. That is what happens when living stones come together. That is what happens when the Church acts as the Body of Christ.

If Peter were writing to us in Frankfort, Illinois, in 2026, I think he would say the same thing: You may feel small in a world full of noise. You may feel like your faith is overlooked or misunderstood. You may wonder whether your efforts matter. But God sees differently. Every act of service—like the seven chosen in Acts—builds the Church. Every moment of trust—like the disciples in the Gospel—strengthens the foundation. Every believer—like the community Peter addresses—is a living stone in God’s great work. You are not anonymous or accidental. You are not replaceable. You are chosen. You are called. You are part of something God is building that will last forever.

Peter’s message is both comforting and challenging. Comforting, because it tells us who we are in Christ. Challenging, because it reminds us that we are meant to be built together. A stone cannot build a house alone. A Christian cannot live the Gospel alone. So today, let us come to Christ, the living stone. Let us allow ourselves to be shaped, placed, and used by God. And let us remember that in this spiritual house, every stone matters—especially you.