Solemnity of St. Peter and St. Paul
Prayer
Father, give us the strength to be faithful disciples even through times of trial. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Commentary
1st Reading: Acts 12:1-11
We celebrate Peter and Paul together because of the important role that they played in bringing the Gospel to the heart of the Roman Empire and from there to the rest of the world.
Throughout the Acts of the Apostles, God protects and provides for the growth of His newly established Church despite persecution and resistance. In today’s reading, Peter is “secured by double chains” in a seemingly hopeless situation. The Church accompanies him with fervent prayer, but it is God who sends an angel to miraculously save him.
We too have a role to play in God’s plan to spread the Gospel. We too can expect to face obstacles and challenges, but we also experience His providential care.
Question:
Have you encountered challenges in living and sharing the Gospel? How have you experienced God’s providential care?
2nd Reading: 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18
Paul, too, experienced many trials while spreading the Good News to all.
He suffered beatings, threats to his life, insults, imprisonment, getting shipwrecked and eventually, martyrdom, but he never wavered.
Paul’s fruitfulness as a missionary required a great deal of perseverance: “I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.”
He did not complain about the hardships that he faced or boast about his endurance. How was he able to persevere? “The Lord stood by me and gave me strength…”
Why did he keep going? What made it all worthwhile? “… that through me the proclamation might be complete and all the Gentiles might hear it.”
Paul did not think of himself as a mere victim of circumstance; rather, he offered his life as “a libation,” a sacrifice, a precious gift freely and wholly spent in the service of God’s kingdom.
Question:
What is the source of your strength? What motivates you to persevere?
Gospel: Matthew 16:13-19
Jesus is not content to ask what the crowds think about Him, as though He needed a report on public relations. Instead, Jesus asks a much more direct question: “Who do you say that I am?” You… I… This is a very personal language. It is an invitation to step out of the crowd and into a personal relationship.
As soon as Peter makes a personal profession of faith (“You are the Christ…”), Jesus makes him a pillar of community: “You are Peter,” a name which means rock, “and on this rock I will build my Church.”
Jesus invites each of us into a deeply personal relationship, but personal does not mean isolated. On the contrary, this personal relationship draws us into His family, the Church.
Question:
Who is Jesus to you? What is the role of His Church?
This Week’s Task
Instead of complaining this week, try to see inconveniences and hardships as opportunities to trust in God and embrace sacrifice as an expression of love.
Group Prayer
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next. Amen.
The prayer continues with Psalm 34.
Psalm
Response: The angel of the Lord will rescue those who fear him.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the LORD;
the lowly will hear me and be glad.
R: The angel of the Lord will rescue those who fear him.
Glorify the LORD with me,
let us together extol his name.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
R: The angel of the Lord will rescue those who fear him.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,
and your faces may not blush with shame.
When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.
R: The angel of the Lord will rescue those who fear him.
The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
Taste and see how good the LORD is;
blessed the man who takes refuge in him.