28 June 2014

'But who do you say that I am?' Sunday Reflections, Solemnity of Sts Peter and Paul

Sts Peter and Paul, Guido Reni
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan [Web Gallery of Art]


Solemnity of Sts Peter and Paul. Solemnities take precedence over Sundays in Ordinary Time.

At the Vigil Mass (Saturday evening)

NB: The Vigil Mass has its own prayers and readings. Those for the Mass During the Day on Sunday should not be used – though some priests seem to be unaware of this. It is incorrect to refer to the Vigil Mass as an ‘anticipated Mass’. It is a celebration proper to the evening before. The Vigil Mass also fulfills the Sunday obligation.

Readings  (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) [This link is to the readings for the Vigil Mass and for the Mass on Sunday]


Mass During the Day

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)  [This link is to the readings for the Vigil Mass and for the Mass on Sunday] [Link to readings of Vigil Mass and Mass During the Day]


Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah,the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

From Tu es Petrus (You are Peter), an oratorio by contemporary Polish composer Piotr Rubik. The composer, who conducts above, composed the work in honour of Pope John Paul II in 2005.

Jesus says to Peter in today's gospel: You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. Those same words are sung as the Gospel Acclamation.. The first part of that verse is sung again as part of the Communion Antiphon.

St Augustine speaks very eloquently in one of his sermons on the reasons Jesus chose this fisherman to be the first leader of his Church:

If Christ had first chosen a man skilled in public speaking, such a man might well have said: 'I have been chosen on account of my eloquence.' If he had chosen a senator, the senator might have said: 'I have been chosen because of my rank.' If his first choice had been an emperor, the emperor surely might have said: 'I have been chosen for the sake of the power I have at my disposal.' Let these worthies keep quiet and defer to others; let them hold their peace for a while. I am not saying they should be passed over or despised; I am simply asking all those who can find any ground for pride in what theya re to give way to others just a little.

Christ says: give me this fisherman, this man without education or experience, this man to whom no senator would deign to speak, not even if he were buying fish. Yes, give me him; once I have taken possession of him, it will be obvious that it is I who am at work in him. Although I meant to include senators, orators, and emperors among my recruits, even when I have won over the senator I shall still be surer of the fisherman. The senator can always take pride in what he is; so can the orator and the emperor, but the fisherman can glory in nothing except Christ alone.

I was particularly struck by St Augustine's observation that perhaps a senator mightn't bother to speak to a fisherman even when buying fish from him. I remember being at a birthday party here in the Philippines for a boy aged ten or eleven, an only child. His paternal grandmother, a wealthy woman, whom I'll call 'Lydia', whose late husband had lingered for ten years after a stroke that left him totally incapacitated. During those years Lydia joined a prayer group, most of the members of which were people who had to struggle financially from day to day. They prayed regularly with Lydia's husband and gave her great support.

At her grandson's birthday party she asked her daughter-in-law if her driver had eaten. Then she turned to me and said, Before, I wouldn't even have noticed him. She had been changed by the faith community in her parish, especially by the members of the prayer group.



Last Wednesday in his General Audience Pope Francis spoke of how our lives are intertwined by being members of the Church. Here is a summary in English of what he said in Italian:

Dear Brothers and Sisters: In our catechesis on the Church, we have seen that God gathered a people to himself in the Old Testament and in the fullness of time sent his Son to establish the Church as the sacrament of unity for all humanity. God calls each of us to belong to this great family. None of us become Christians on our own; we owe our relationship with God to so many others who passed on the faith, who brought us for Baptism, who taught us to pray and showed us the beauty of the Christian life: our parents and grandparents, our priests, religious and teachers. But we are Christians not only because of others, but together with others. Our relationship with Christ is personal but not private; it is born of, and enriched by, the communion of the Church. Our shared pilgrimage is not always easy: at times we encounter human weakness, limitations and even scandal in the life of the Church. Yet God has called us to know him and to love him precisely by loving our brothers and sisters, by persevering in the fellowship of the Church and by seeking in all things to grow in faith and holiness as members of the one body of Christ.

One very striking statement there is: Our relationship with Christ is personal but not private; it is born of, and enriched by, the communion of the Church. Pope Benedict frequently spoke of our faith being in the person of Jesus Christ, God who became man. Pope Francis has done the same.

The gospel read at the Vigil Mass, John 21:15-19, [in the video below from 1:13 to 3:27] brings that out very clearly. Jesus calls Simon Peter into a deep intimacy with him and it is in that context that he sends him out to preach the Gospel. that is how Jesus relates to each one of us, as he did to St Peter and to St Paul. And the director of the movie from which the video is taken, The Gospel of John, Philip Saville, has Jesus asking Peter the very personal 'Do you love me?' in the presence of the other apostles. In my imagination I had always seen Jesus as having taken Peter aside. The scene in the movie illustrates the words of Pope Francis: But we are Christians not only because of others, but together with others. St Peter here, though he has been called to a special responsibility of leadership, is still a Christian with the others. That goes for each of us, no matter what our specific responsibilities may be in the community that is the Church.



In the two gospel readings used in the celebration of this Solemnity Jesus puts the same questions to each of us that he did to St Peter: But who do you say that I am? and Do you love me? Our response, to use the words of Pope Francis last Wednesday, is meant to be personal but not private.

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While preparing this post I came across the story of Hieu Van Le, a Catholic, who will become Governor of South Australia in September. He has been Lieutenant-Governor since 2007. Queen Elizabeth of Australia is also Queen of England and that's where she lives. But she's represented in Australia by the Governor-General and, in each state, by the Governor. Hieu Van Le arrived in Australia in 1977 at the age of 23, a 'boat person' from Vietnam, after a perilous journey in which he showed his leadership qualities.

In the video below he tells how, on the arrival of the small boat in which he and many others had been travelling for over a month, two Australian fishermen lifted the spirits of the Vietnamese by a simple greeting: G'day, mate. Welcome to Australia! I'm sure St Augustine would highly approve, not to mention the great fisherman we are celebrating this weekend!





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