29 June 2010: Ss Peter and Paul, Apostles

The Church founded by Christ has Sts Peter and Paul as principal pillars. Christ chose Peter to be His first Vicar on earth, endowed with powers of the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven (Mt 16:13-9); and charged with role of Shepherd of Christ’s flock (Jn 21:15-7). In Peter and his successors is seen the visible sign of unity; given through them the communion in faith and charity.

Divine grace led Peter to profess Christ’s divinity. St Peter suffered martyrdom (~AD 66) under Nero; was buried at the hill of the Vatican where recent excavations revealed his tomb beneath St Peter’s Basilica.

Christ chose Paul on the road to Damascus to form part of the apostolic college (Acts 9:1-16). An instrument selected to bring Christ’s name to all peoples (Acts 9:15), he is the greatest missionary of all time, the advocate of pagans, the ‘Apostle of the Gentiles’.

St Paul was beheaded in the ‘Tre Fontane’ and buried nearby where the basilica bearing his name now stands.

Ref: Fr James Socias, et al (Eds), “Daily Roman Missal”, 1989, p1562

The vocation of Peter

Peter met Jesus in the evening through Andrew, his brother. Andrew and John were with Jesus the whole day. Andrew could not keep to himself the immense treasure he had found. “Filled with joy he ran to tell his brother about the great benefit he had received.” (St John Chrysostom, “Catena Aurea”, vol VII)

Our Lord shows He has always known Peter: “You are Simon, son of John.” Jesus also knows Peter’s future: “You will be called Cephas, which means Rock” (Jn 1:42). These words determine Peter’s vocation and prophesy his destiny.

Despite his weaknesses Peter was faithful to Christ to the point of dying for him. We ask him to make us firm in the faith. We ask, too of Mary our Mother, that we may hold fast to our faith without any ambiguity wherever we live.

Ref: cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 6:364-5, 370

Our Lord chooses His disciples

“What shall I do, Lord?" (Acts 22:10) St Paul asked at the moment of his conversion. Jesus answered, “Rise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do”. The persecutor, transformed by grace, received Christian instruction and Baptism from a man, Ananias, in accordance with ordinary ways of providence.

Once Paul realizes that Christ is all that really matters in his life, he immediately gave himself with all his strength. He knows that he is the instrument chosen to take the Gospel to many people.

Let us ask Our Lady, ‘Queen of Apostles’, to make us understand better that the apostolate is a joyous undertaking, although it may demand sacrifice. That our responsibility towards people we meet daily is great.

Ref: cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, pp371, 377

The Good Shepherd

Our Lord uses this tender and touching figure to express the love His Sacred Heart bears us, and to draw to it the hearts of men. Imagine you behold a good shepherd surrounded by his sheep. His greatest anxiety is the safety of his flock. He thinks of them night and day, ever on the watch lest they fall into harm. His love for them knows no bounds.

If, despite his vigilance, a single sheep wanders from the fold, he is restless till he has found it and carried it home. Should there be any sickness among the flock, he tends them unceasingly. He devotes himself totally to them. In short, his delight is to be with them, and to lavish every sort of care upon them.

We will find in Jesus, the Shepherd of our souls, that ardent love and unceasing vigilance fill his Heart towards mankind, but in a more perfect degree. Has he not completely forgotten himself for us? ... become poor to make us rich? ... deliver himself up to death to give us life?

“I know my sheep, and mine know me.” (Jn 10:14) What does our Lord wish us to understand by these words? That he reads the heart. That there are Christians who are good sheep only in the eyes of men. There are others who are in reality good sheep, and known as such in the All-seeing Eye that cannot be deceived.

Ponder these truths. Are we among the faithful flock known to our Lord? The good sheep seeks his master’s company. Do we love to be with Jesus, and to visit him often in the Blessed Sacrament? The sheep knows and follows his master’s voice. Do we know and follow it when he speaks through our director and our norms?

“And I lay down my life for my sheep.” (Jn 10:15) Our Lord tells us that “the hireling, who owns not the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep and flees” (Jn 10:12). That is, he is faithful only as long as neither trouble nor sacrifice is demanded of him. The good Shepherd, on the contrary, ‘gives his life for the sheep’.

What a contrast between the conduct of the hireling and that of the good Shepherd!The hireling thinks only of his own interest and of himself. The other acts from motives of supernatural love and charity.

Our Lord uses the hireling as a type of the Pharisees who publicly announce their good actions, “that they may be honored by men” (Lk 16:15). Under the figure of the good Shepherd Jesus seeks only the glory of his Heavenly Father.

Let us examine the motives of our words and actions, and make some generous resolutions for the future. Humbly ask Our Lord for fidelity to them.

Ref: cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp214-6

Our Lady -- “Mary, your Mother, will bring you to the Love of Jesus. There you wil be ‘cum gaudio et pace’, with joy and peace. And you will be always ‘brought’, because on your own you would fall and get covered with mud: you will be brought onward, brought to believe, to love, and to suffer.” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Forge”, 677)

Our Lady of Buglose two leagues from Acqs, in Gascony. This image was miraculously found in the year 1634, and removed to the parish of Buglose. — Triple Conronne, n. 36. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; http://www.bethlehemobserver.com)

Our Lady of Buglose (Near Acqs, Gascony). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)

Our Lady of Buglose (France, 1634). (http://www.divinewill.org/feastofourlady.htm); (http://www.starharbor.com/santiago/m feasts.html); (MaryLinks Calendar.htm); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html)

‘Notre Dame de Buglose’. Landes, France. 1634. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)