Daily Gospel for Monday, 29 June 2015

Daily Gospel for Monday, 29 June 2015
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."[John 6:68]Saint Peter and Saint Paul, apostles - Solemnity

SOLEMNITY OF STS PETER AND PAUL 
Homily of Bl. John-Paul II
Thursday, 29 June 2000

"Who do you say that I am?" (Mt 16: 15)

Jesus asks the disciples this question about his identity while he is with them in upper Galilee. It often happened that they would ask Jesus questions; now it is he who questions them. His is a precise question that awaits an answer. Simon Peter speaks for them all:  "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Mt 16: 16).  

The answer is extraordinarily clear. The Church's faith is perfectly reflected in it. We are reflected in it too. The Bishop of Rome, his unworthy successor by divine will, is particularly reflected in Peter's words. (...)  

"You are the Christ!". Jesus replies to Peter's confession:  "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven" (Mt 16: 17)

Blessed are you, Peter! Blessed because you could not have humanly recognized this truth, which is central to the Church's faith, except by God's action. "No one", Jesus said, "knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him" (Mt 11: 27).  

We are reflecting on this extraordinarily rich Gospel passage:  the incarnate Word had revealed the Father to his disciples; now is the moment when the Father himself reveals his only Only-begotten Son to them. Peter receives inner enlightenment and courageously proclaims:  "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!".  

These words on Peter's lips come from the depths of God's mystery. They reveal the intimate truth, the very life of God. And Peter, under the action of the divine Spirit, becomes a witness and confessor of this superhuman truth. His profession of faith thus forms the firm basis of the Church's faith:  "On this rock I will build my Church" (Mt 16: 18). The Church of Christ is built on Peter's faith and fidelity.  

The first Christian community was very conscious of this. As the Acts of the Apostles recount, when Peter was in prison it gathered to raise an earnest prayer to God for him (cf. Acts 12: 5). It was heard, because Peter's presence was still necessary for the community as it took its first steps:  the Lord sent his angel to free him from the hands of his persecutors (cf. ibid., 12: 7-11). It was written in God's plan that Peter, after long strengthening his brothers in faith, would undergo martyrdom here in Rome together with Paul, the Apostle of the nations, who had also escaped death several times.  

"The Lord stood by me and gave me strength to proclaim the word fully, that all the Gentiles might hear it" (2 Tm 4: 17).

These are the words of Paul to his faithful disciple Timothy:  we heard them in the second reading. They testify to what the Lord accomplished in him after he chose him as a minister of the Gospel and "grasped" him on the road to Damascus (cf. Phil 3: 12).  

The Lord had come to him in a blaze of light, saying:  "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? " (Acts 9: 4), while a mysterious force threw him to the ground. "Who are you, Lord?", Saul had asked him. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting!" (Acts 9: 5). This was Christ's answer. Saul had been persecuting Jesus' followers, and Jesus told him that it was he himself who was being persecuted in them. He, Jesus of Nazareth, the Crucified One who Christians said had risen. If Saul now experienced his powerful presence, it was clear that God really had raised him from the dead. He, in fact, was the Messiah awaited by Israel; he was the Christ living and present in the Church and in the world!  

Could Saul have understood with his reason alone all that such an event entailed? Certainly not! It was, in fact, part of God's mysterious plan. It would be the Father who would give Paul the grace of knowing the mystery of the redemption accomplished in Christ. It would be God who would enable him to understand the marvellous reality of the Church, which lives for Christ, with Christ and in Christ. And he, who had come to share in this truth, would continuously and tirelessly proclaim it to the very ends of the earth.  

From Damascus, Paul would begin his apostolic journey which would lead him to spread the Gospel in so many parts of the then known world. His missionary zeal would thus help to fulfill the command Christ gave to the Apostles:  "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations ..." (Mt 28:  19).(...)  

The full unity of the Church!

I feel Christ's command echoing within me. It is a particularly urgent command at the beginning of this new millennium. Let us pray and work for this, without ever growing weary of hoping. (...)  

May God grant us to achieve as soon as possible the full unity of all believers in Christ.  May we obtain this gift through the Apostles Peter and Paul, who are remembered by the Church of Rome on this day that commemorates their martyrdom and therefore their birth to life in God. For the sake of the Gospel they accepted suffering and death, and became sharers in the Lord's Resurrection. Their faith, confirmed by martyrdom, is the same faith as that of Mary, the Mother of believers, of the Apostles and of the saints of every age.  

Today the Church again proclaims their faith. It is our faith, the Church's unchanging faith in Jesus, the only Saviour of the world; in Christ, the Son of the living God, who died and rose for us and for all humanity. - Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Saint Peter and Saint Paul, apostles - SolemnityActs of the Apostels 12:1 It was around this time that King Herod began arresting and persecuting certain members of the Messianic community; 2 and he had Ya‘akov, Yochanan’s brother, put to death by the sword. 3 When Herod saw how much this pleased the Judeans, he went on to arrest Kefa as well. It was during the Days of Matzah, 4 so when Herod seized him, he threw him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each, with the intention of bringing him to public trial after Pesach. 5 So Kefa was being held under watch in prison, but intense prayer was being made to God on his behalf by the Messianic community.
6 The night before Herod was going to bring him to trial, Kefa was sleeping between two soldiers. He was bound with two chains; and guards were at the door, keeping watch over the prison. 7 Suddenly an angel of Adonai stood there, and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Kefa’s side and woke him. “Hurry! Get up!” he said; and the chains fell off his hands. 8 The angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals,” and he did. “Throw on your robe,” he said, “and follow me!” 9 Going out, Kefa followed him but did not realize that what was happening through the angel was real — he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 Having passed a first guard and a second, they arrived at the iron gate leading to the city. This opened to them by itself, and they made their exit. They went down the length of one street, and suddenly the angel left him. 11 Then Kefa came to himself and said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord sent his angel to rescue me from Herod’s power and from everything the Judean people were hoping for.”
Psalm 34:2 (1) I will bless Adonai at all times;
his praise will always be in my mouth.
3 (2) When I boast, it will be about Adonai;
the humble will hear of it and be glad.
4 (3) Proclaim with me the greatness of Adonai;
let us exalt his name together.
5 (4) I sought Adonai, and he answered me;
he rescued me from everything I feared.
6 (5) They looked to him and grew radiant;
their faces will never blush for shame.
7 (6) This poor man cried; Adonai heard
and saved him from all his troubles.
8 (7) The angel of Adonai, who encamps
around those who fear him, delivers them.
9 (8) Taste, and see that Adonai is good.
How blessed are those who take refuge in him!
The Second Letter to Timothy 4:6 For as for me, I am already being poured out on the altar; yes, the time for my departure has arrived. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 All that awaits me now is the crown of righteousness which the Lord, “the Righteous Judge,” will award to me on that Day — and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for him to appear.
17 But the Lord stood by me and gave me power to proclaim the full message for all the Goyim to hear, and I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.[2 Timothy 4:17 Psalm 22:22(21); Daniel 6:21(20), 23(22)] 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and bring me safely into his heavenly Kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
The Holy Gospel of Yeshua the Messiah According to Saint Matthew 16:13 When Yeshua came into the territory around Caesarea Philippi, he asked his talmidim, “Who are people saying the Son of Man is?” 14 They said, “Well, some say Yochanan the Immerser, others Eliyahu, still others Yirmeyahu or one of the prophets.” 15 “But you,” he said to them, “who do you say I am?” 16 Shim‘on Kefa answered, “You are the Mashiach, the Son of the living God.” 17 “Shim‘on Bar-Yochanan,” Yeshua said to him, “how blessed you are! For no human being revealed this to you, no, it was my Father in heaven. 18 I also tell you this: you are Kefa,” [which means ‘Rock,’] “and on this rock I will build my Community, and the gates of Sh’ol will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you prohibit on earth will be prohibited in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”
Saint Peter and Saint Paul, apostles - Solemnity
Commentary of the Day:
Saint Leo the Great (?-c.461), Pope and Doctor of the Church
Sermon 82/69 for the anniversary of the Apostles Peter and Paul 
“When you are older … another will … carry you off against your will” (Jn 21:18) You were not afraid to come to this city of Rome, O holy apostle Peter! … You were not afraid of Rome, the mistress of the world, you who in the house of Caiaphas took fright when faced with the high priest’s servant girl. So was the power of the emperors Claudius and Nero less than Pilate’s judgment or the fury of the Jewish leaders? It is because the power of love triumphed in you over the reasons to fear. You did not think you had to fear those whom you had been sent to love. You had already received this intrepid charity when the love you professed for the Lord was strengthened by his threefold question (Jn 21:15f.)… And so that your trust might grow, there were the signs of so many miracles, the gift of so many charisms, the experience of so many marvelous works… Thus, without doubting in the fruitfulness of the task and without remaining ignorant of the time you still had to live, you brought the trophy of Christ’s cross to Rome, where through divine predestination, both the honor of authority and the glory of martyrdom awaited you. 

Saint Paul came to this same city. With you, he was an apostle, a chosen instrument (Acts9:19) and teacher of the nations (1 Tim 2:7). He came to be with you in this time when already all innocence, all freedom, all modesty were oppressed under Nero’s power, who in his madness was the first to decree a general and terrible persecution against the christian name, as if God’s grace could have been stopped by massacring saints… But “Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his faithful ones.” (Ps 116[117]:15) No cruelty could destroy the religion founded through the mystery of Christ’s cross. The Church is not reduced but rather enlarged through persecutions; the field of the Lord is constantly clothed with a greater harvest when the seeds that fall alone are born again as many (Jn 12:24). What a lineage those two divinely sown plants produced as they developed! Thousands of martyr saints, imitating the two apostles’ triumph, ... crowned this city with a diadem adorned with countless jewels.

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