Today is the External Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. They are Apostles of Christ who worked so hard for the propagation of the gospel of Jesus. They were spiritual brothers and companions of Jesus, who granted them healing, despite their human flaws and weaknesses. They were renewed and strengthened by the power of God’s mercy and forgiveness through their Good Teacher, Jesus Christ. We are all familiar with these saints. Peter is the rock and was given the key of His Kingdom, and Paul, a persecutor of early Christians, was called to be His ardent missionary worker, both in preaching and writing 13 letters of the compiled New Testament. From those Letters, he acknowledges himself as the “Apostle of Christ.”
In fact, these two saints are often called the founding pillars of the Church. Peter was called Petrus, or rock, which means a strong leader of Jewish Christians in Jerusalem, Antioch, and Rome, while Paul was a convert who labored for the Gentiles preaching them the Goodnews in Galatia, Athens, and Thessalonica. However, these two were just ordinary men called by God. Many times, they were in conflict in their opinion as to how they lead the people closer to Christ. There are recorded reports from the Acts of the Apostles and in the epistle to the Galatians 2:11-12, where Paul writes, “and when Cephas (Peter) came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he clearly was wrong.” Thus, this wasn’t the first time Peter had been called to conversion.
Our epistle, taken from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, narrates to us about Peter who was kept in prison, and while languishing, he was helped and freed by an angel. I have noticed that there is a big difference when Peter was supported by the church through their supplication. It was written that, “prayer was made without ceasing by the Church unto God for him.” (v5) This is the miraculous effect when prayer has been offered by the community. It makes a huge difference. I believe that the wisdom of God has designed that we, as God’s people, shall participate in the mission of everyone. When we show our disgusting and uncooperative attitude, then we are putting danger in that which threatens the program of God. We are called to prayer to set people free from neglect and imprisonment from all negativities.
Prayer is the powerful tool to be strong in our relationship and a mighty thrust on the art of the people of God to change the course of events. Moreover, it is the most natural response of a heart that is dependent upon God. If you are really counting upon God to do something, then you will pray about it. You will trust him; you will communicate with him. If you are not counting on him, you will not pray. If you are really counting on something else, or on someone else, or if you think that by your own clever maneuvering you can get out of a situation, or if you are trusting other human beings to come through, you will not pray. Or if you do, your prayer is but a ritual, an empty form, a perfunctory/ mechanical utterance that means nothing. God works in the same way today as He did with Peter in the first century. God will respond to our prayers in very much the same way.
Obviously in today’s gospel, Peter was led by the Holy Spirit and has mentioned that Jesus is the Christ, “the Son of God.” Jesus told him, “You are Peter,” He said, “and upon this rock I will build my Church” (Mt 16:18). I want to share simple points to make the gospel message cross our minds and hearts to clarity.
First, Jesus made it clear to him that his acknowledgement of Jesus’ identity does not come from flesh and blood through his human capacity but through a revelation from God the Father.
Second, Jesus has given Peter also his new identity being the solid rock, which means he would be a stone along the path for people to stumble on in order to find God.
Third, Jesus truly founded His Church through His Apostles, in particular St. Peter, which interprets “this rock” in reference to Peter, the beginning of apostolic succession. Jesus authoritatively instituted an unbroken line of successors from Peter and the other apostles to the current Pope, bishops, and clergy all over the world exercising Christ’s authority in teaching, ruling, and sanctifying the Church.
On today’s feast-day, God calls us to do and act according to what our faith calls us to do. The angel freed Peter and then left him alone to pursue his mission. We know that Paul was blinded; however, when he recovered his sight, he did not stop preaching to win the hearts of the Gentiles for the Lord. Through the Holy Spirit, like Peter and Paul, we are called to listen and act on Jesus’ gospel and then live it out.
God bless you.
Fr. Arlon, osa
