SOLEMNITY OF SAINTS PETER AND PAUL

You are Peter! And on this Rock, I will build my Church. Matthew 16:13-19:

READINGS

Acts 12:1-11:
2 Tim 4:6-8, 17-18:
Matthew 16:13-19:

REFLECTION

Today we celebrate two great men of the Church, Saints Peter and Paul. Two ordinary men, one a fisherman and the other a Pharisee and a tentmaker. Two ordinary men who recognized that God had called them to be something greater than they thought themselves to be. Two ordinary men who had courage to speak the truth that was spoken to them through Christ. They endured suffering through many hardships and trials for their words and actions and yet they kept on believing in the truth that dwelt in their hearts.

Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, the first Pope, started life as a humble fisherman. To this weak and impulsive man, so unpromising in so many ways, Christ entrusted the keys of the Kingdom of heaven. Peter the fisherman would be drawing souls in the net of faith and charity, drawing souls into that Kingdom which the Lord came to earth to establish. The confidence which Christ placed in Peter as the foundation stone of the Church is remarkable when we remember that Peter three times denied his Master. The Son of God well knew into what frail hands He was placing the spiritual destiny of His people. He knew that this rock would very rapidly crumble to dust, unless He Himself, the Rock of Ages, did not underpin it at all time, in every age of the Church until the world ends.

The other foundation stone of the Church whom we celebrate today is Paul, on the human level so totally different from Peter in every way. Well educated, pious and zealous to the point of bigotry, Paul was an equally surprising choice. The risen Lord appeared to this young rabbi, and converted Him from being Saul, one of the most fanatical enemies, into Paul the greatest theologian and the greatest missionary the Church has ever known.

This should be an encouragement for us. Christ can and does turn the most unlikely and mediocre material, sinners and bigots, into instruments which He then generously uses for His own purposes and the salvation of all mankind. Peter and Paul were both martyrs. Both laid down their lives for Christ. They both bore witness to the truth of the living God by making the supreme sacrifice. Their love for the Lord led to their death, just as his love for mankind led inevitably to His death on Calvary. The beginnings of the Church are drenched in the blood of the martyrs, of which Peter and Paul are surely the most glorious. It seems to be true that in the Church’s long history, grace flows ever more abundantly in the face of persecution. Their persecution led ironically, to a great outpouring of grace, of which his conversion and apostolate were the first fruits.

On today’s feast of the Fathers of the Holy Roman Church, we should pray for the Holy Father and all the shepherds of Christ’s embattled flock. What courage and single-mindedness it must require to serve the Lord faithfully as a bishop in the Church He founded. Our bishop deserve our prayerful support at all times. Let us resolve today never ever to weaken the communion of faith and charity which binds us to them, and through them, to Peter, Paul, and the other foundation stones of the Church.

May Saint Peter, Prince of the Apostles and Saint Paul, Apostle of the Gentiles, help us all to live and die in the knowledge and love of God. Together, may Peter and Paul guard and protect the Holy Roman Catholic Church, by their prayers and through their merits. May they inspire us all to follow Christ, on His painful yet glorious path to eternal life. Amen.

Stay safe and stay blessed.
Shalom

Fr Osho

Credit:
This article is written by Rev Fr. Joseph Osho OSJ. Please visit his personal blog @ https://www.blogger.com/profile/10377666931103644634
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