20220629 SAINTS PETER AND PAUL, WITNESSES OF THE FAITH
29 June, 2022, Wednesday, Ss Peter and Paul, Apostles
First reading | Acts 12:1-11 © |
'Now I know the Lord really did save me from Herod'
King Herod started persecuting certain members of the Church. He beheaded James the brother of John, and when he saw that this pleased the Jews he decided to arrest Peter as well. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread, and he put Peter in prison, assigning four squads of four soldiers each to guard him in turns. Herod meant to try Peter in public after the end of Passover week. All the time Peter was under guard the Church prayed to God for him unremittingly.
On the night before Herod was to try him, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, fastened with double chains, while guards kept watch at the main entrance to the prison. Then suddenly the angel of the Lord stood there, and the cell was filled with light. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him. ‘Get up!’ he said ‘Hurry!’ – and the chains fell from his hands. The angel then said, ‘Put on your belt and sandals.’ After he had done this, the angel next said, ‘Wrap your cloak round you and follow me.’ Peter followed him, but had no idea that what the angel did was all happening in reality; he thought he was seeing a vision. They passed through two guard posts one after the other, and reached the iron gate leading to the city. This opened of its own accord; they went through it and had walked the whole length of one street when suddenly the angel left him. It was only then that Peter came to himself. ‘Now I know it is all true’ he said. ‘The Lord really did send his angel and has saved me from Herod and from all that the Jewish people were so certain would happen to me.’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 33(34):2-9 © |
From all my terrors the Lord set me free.
or
The angel of the Lord rescues those who revere him.
I will bless the Lord at all times,
his praise always on my lips;
in the Lord my soul shall make its boast.
The humble shall hear and be glad.
From all my terrors the Lord set me free.
or
The angel of the Lord rescues those who revere him.
Glorify the Lord with me.
Together let us praise his name.
I sought the Lord and he answered me;
from all my terrors he set me free.
From all my terrors the Lord set me free.
or
The angel of the Lord rescues those who revere him.
Look towards him and be radiant;
let your faces not be abashed.
This poor man called, the Lord heard him
and rescued him from all his distress.
From all my terrors the Lord set me free.
or
The angel of the Lord rescues those who revere him.
The angel of the Lord is encamped
around those who revere him, to rescue them.
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
He is happy who seeks refuge in him.
From all my terrors the Lord set me free.
or
The angel of the Lord rescues those who revere him.
Second reading |
2 Timothy 4:6-8,17-18 © |
All there is to come now is the crown of righteousness reserved for me
My life is already being poured away as a libation, and the time has come for me to be gone. I have fought the good fight to the end; I have run the race to the finish; I have kept the faith; all there is to come now is the crown of righteousness reserved for me, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that Day; and not only to me but to all those who have longed for his Appearing.
The Lord stood by me and gave me power, so that through me the whole message might be proclaimed for all the pagans to hear; and so I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from all evil attempts on me, and bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Gospel Acclamation | Mt16:18 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.
And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it.
Alleluia!
Gospel |
Matthew 16:13-19 © |
You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he put this question to his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say he is John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ ‘But you,’ he said ‘who do you say I am?’ Then Simon Peter spoke up, ‘You are the Christ,’ he said ‘the Son of the living God.’ Jesus replied, ‘Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.’
SAINTS PETER AND PAUL, WITNESSES OF THE FAITH
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Acts 12: 1-11; Ps 33:2-9; 2 Tim 4, 6-8, 17-18; Mt 16, 13-19]
The call to witness to Christ is an obligation by virtue of our baptism. We are all called to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth, announcing Christ as our Saviour and Redeemer. The command to spread the gospel of Christ and to win converts for our Lord is very challenging in a world like ours today, when there is great sensitivity to proselytism and acceptance of the gospel values enshrined in Catholic doctrines and morality. We read how in the early Church the apostles suffered persecution and even death for the sake of the gospel. Ss Peter and Paul, the great pillars of the Church, whose feast we celebrate today, suffered martyrdom for the sake of the gospel. Because of their witnessing, the Church grew in strength and in the world.
Today, we are called to learn from Ss Peter and Paul how to witness for Christ effectively. The fundamental truth is to rely on divine intervention. The gospel cannot change lives if it is only dependent on our intellectual capacity, our eloquence, and strategies in communication. We must rely on divine intervention. It is God who makes our work fruitful rather than our ingenuity and talents alone. The Lord said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” (Jn 15:5) Writing to the Corinthians, Paul said, “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” (1 Cor 3:5-7)
The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles recounts how St Peter was released from prison through God’s intervention. St Peter was persecuted by the Jewish political authorities. King Herod who beheaded James saw it as a political gain because the Jews supported him, sought to arrest Peter as well. He was placed in prison before the trial. But an angel delivered Peter from prison. Clearly, this was a case of divine intervention. This shows that without divine intervention, the gospel would not have spread to the whole world. The gospel in the early Church spread quickly, because God worked signs through the apostles. “Now many signs and wonders were done among the people through the apostles. Yet more than ever believers were added to the Lord, great numbers of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on cots and mats, in order that Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he came by. A great number of people would also gather from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all cured.” (Acts 5:12-16)
In the gospel, we read of God’s intervention in enlightening St Peter on the identity of our Lord. When Jesus asked the apostles, “who do you say I am?”, “Simon Peter spoke up, ‘You are the Christ,’ he said, ‘the Son of the living God’. Jesus replied, ‘Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven.” Indeed, St Peter received the divine revelation, without which he would not have been able to confess in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Without a personal conviction of the identity of our Lord, one would not be able to give his or her life to Christ. This was why when the Lord asked His disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”, they said, “Some say he is John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” In a pointed way, He then asked them, “But you, who do you say I am?” Truly, it was Peter’s personal conviction bolstered by divine inspiration and revelation that made him the rock of the Church. In other words, through sharing the faith of St Peter, the Church will grow in strength and be able to withstand the onslaughts of the world. As St Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” (Jn 6:69)
Even then, having the right confession of faith does not mean that St Peter and the rest of the apostles fully understood what they were saying. More likely, their understanding of Christ’s messiahship was warped and influenced by popular opinions in their time. No human category could describe Jesus and His ministry. Jesus was greater than all the prophets of the Old Testament. Again, for this reason, Jesus spoke of another divine intervention needed to understand what He had told them. “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” (Jn 16:12f) The Holy Spirit will continue to guide the Church to walk in the way of our Lord.
In the final analysis, the scripture readings today underscore that the Church is ultimately built on Christ, the rock of the Church, our cornerstone. When the Lord said to St Peter, “You are Peter and on this rock, I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven”, it meant first and foremost that He is the rock of the Church. This was the interpretation of St Augustine. Jesus is the rock simply because He is the Son of the Living God. This is the faith of St Peter and the faith of the Church. St Peter is the little rock insofar as he founded his faith in Christ, the rock of the Church.
Turning to St Paul, he too spoke of God’s intervention in His life many times in His ministry. He would pay attention to God’s voice. Once he had a vision of a man in Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” Convinced of God’s call for them, they immediately crossed over to Macedonia to proclaim the good news to them. (Acts 16:9f) Then at Thessalonica, the Lord freed Paul and Silas from prison miraculously through an earthquake “so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.” (Acts 16:26) Clearly the gospel would be preached not just by St Paul’s eloquence and conviction but through the power of God. Indeed, God told Paul when he returned to Jerusalem for trial, “That night the Lord stood near him and said, ‘Keep up your courage! For just as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, so you must bear witness also in Rome.'” (Acts 23:11) At the end of his life and ministry, St Paul surmised it by saying, “The Lord stood by me and gave me power, so that through me the whole message might be proclaimed for all the pagans to hear; and so I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from all evil attempts on me, and bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
St Paul shows us what it means to persevere in faith and to be focused in life especially during persecution. Having found Christ, he gave his life entirely to Him because he encountered His love and mercy for him in spite of the fact that he was a persecutor of the church. At the conclusion of his life and ministry, St Paul wrote, “As for me, my life is already being poured away as a libation, and the time has come for me to be gone.” Being a witness of Christ is never easy. He himself was not just persecuted from without, from his fellow Jews but even from fellow Christians. He wrote with sadness, “Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm, he strongly opposed our message.” (2 Tim 4:10,14,15) But if our eyes are focused on the Lord, we will triumph and be able to fight “the good fight to the end”, “to run the race to the finish” and keep the faith like St Paul. As the psalmist says, “I sought the Lord and he answered me; from all my terrors he set me free. Look towards him and be radiant; let your faces not be abashed. This poor man called, the Lord heard him and rescued him from all his distress. The angel of the Lord is encamped around those who revere him, to rescue them.”
As we celebrate the Feasts of Ss Peter and Paul, let us as a community not just pray to them but ask them for the grace to witness powerfully not just as individuals but as a community of believers. May our lives and our faith inspire others to come to know Jesus. May our fidelity to the gospel encourage others to continue to persevere to the end.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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