Feast
of Sts. Peter and Paul
Sunday
28 June 2015
“I say to thee that thou are
Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church.” Mt. 16:16
On this
feastday, we celebrate the Solemnity of the two great Apostles of the Church,
Sts. Peter and Paul. Both were men who
overcame weakness; St. Peter denied
Christ, and St. Paul persecuted the Church. Both repented and worked tirelessly to spread
the gospel to all nations. Eventually,
both proved their great love for Christ by dying as martyrs for the faith.
The Primacy of St.
Peter as the Vicar of Christ
Today’s
gospel from St. Matthew (16:13-19) tells
us how Jesus conferred the Keys of the Kingdom upon St. Peter. First,
Our Lord changed the apostle’s name. He would no longer be called Simon, but Peter because, as
the name signifies, he would be the rock upon which Christ would build His Church. Peter, as rock, is
an image that has endured for centuries to our present day. Christ likens Peter
to a rock because he will have the strength of the foundation of His Church.
Thus the image of rock illustrates the
primacy of Peter and his successors, the Popes of the Roman Catholic
Church. St. Peter and all the Popes enjoy primacy because they govern the
Roman Catholic Church which alone has the four marks of truth: One,
Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. It is indeed the “One only” Church, whose sole
founder and head is Christ who chose Peter
to represent Him after he proclaimed: “Thou
are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Mt. 16:16. St. Peter is the Head of the Church. St. Ambrose would say, “Where
Peter is, there is the Church.” This
means that wherever we find the Pope,
St. Peter’s successor and the Vicar of Christ, there is the Church. This sense of belonging to the Church should
fill us with great joy. Today’s feast in
honour of the two great Apostles, Sts. Peter and Paul, should inspire in us
great joy in thanksgiving to God, the Father,
for bringing us to the
Church established by His Son and
sanctified by His Holy Spirit. St. Cyprian
reminds us of the deep gratitude which we rightly must have for the Catholic
Church:
“He cannot have God for His Father who does not have the Church for his
Mother.”
“Thou are the Christ, the Son of the
Living God.” Mt. 16:16
When
we honour St. Peter today, we are in reality honouring Christ whom St. Peter
knows to be the Son of God. Jesus is the
chief cornerstone of the Church, and St. Peter is the rock upon which
Jesus built His Church. As the Vicar of Christ on earth, we, also are, as St.
Peter tells us, the “living stones built upon a spiritual house, a holy priesthood,”
(I Pt. 2:5) with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone.
Like St. Teresa of Avila, we
should be “a daughter (or son) of the
Church.” We should be true children of the Church who are willing to
sacrifice ourselves for the needs of Holy Mother Church. In today’s Epistle ( I
Pet. 1:1-7) St. Peter reminds of us of
joy which we will have in suffering for Christ: “Wherein you shall greatly rejoice, if now
you must for a little time made
sorrowful in divers temptations: that the trial of your faith, much more
precious than gold (which is tried by the fire), may be found unto praise and
glory and honour, at the appearance of Jesus Christ our Lord.” Today, the Holy Roman Catholic Church is
suffering in its members who are persecuted for the Catholic faith. If we truly
love Christ, then we will love the Catholic faith and be willing to suffer all that God sends us for the good of all the members of Christ’s Mystical Body, the
Church Militant on earth.
St. Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles
We
are all familiar with St. Paul, known formerly as Saul, a zealous Jew, who persecuted the faith of the early Christians
so much that he rode to Damascus in
order to bring them back to Jerusalem for punishment. It was on his way to Damascus, that Saul was
converted by being knocked off his horse by blinding light. Once he knew that
he was actually persecuting Jesus Christ, the Nazarean, in the person of the members of His Church he was never the
same again. Now, as Paul, all that
mattered to him was to be like Jesus Christ, poor and crucified: “It
is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I live now
in the flesh, I live in faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself
up for me.” Gal. 2:20
St. Paul imitated Christ when he gave himself totally to spreading the
gospel. He was unconcerned about himself
and suffered all kinds of dangers and failures: “Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or hunger, or
nakedness, or danger, or the sword.”
Rom. 8:5 St. Paul knows that he
is the instrument chosen by God to bring the gospel to all the people who were
not Jews, that is, the Gentile world: “But when it pleased him who from my
mother’s womb set me apart and called me by his grace to reveal his Son in me
that I might preach him among the Gentiles…Gal. 1:15-6
The Blessings of the Grace of God
St.
Paul’s conversion is a powerful lesson to all of us on the power of God’s
grace. Paul, formerly Saul, was so
zealous for the Jewish faith that he was blinded to the goodness of the
Christians. He may even have seen Jesus
and also been blinded like so many other Jews of his day.
St. Augustine tells us that St. Paul’s passionate zeal was like an
impenetrable jungle. Although it was a
great obstacle, it nevertheless showed St. Paul’s natural talent. God who sees the heart knew this and gave
Paul the grace of conversion. St. Paul would allude to the fact that he and
all Christians were chosen from all eternity:
“He chose us in him before the foundation of the world.” Eph.
1:4 “He has redeemed us and called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own
purpose and grace which was granted to us in Christ Jesus before the world
existed. II Tim 1:9. Oh, how mysterious and powerful was the grace
of God in the life of St. Paul.
Zealous Apostles
St. Peter and St. Paul, lived not for
themselves, but for Jesus Christ. Both
had been sinners who were selected by Jesus for very special missions: St. Peter was to be the first Pope and the
rock upon which Jesus built His Church; St. Paul was to be the Apostle to the
Gentiles. Both Apostles knew that Jesus
spared nothing in His love for them and all men, and they also felt compelled
to give themselves for their brethren in the Church. Both
were martyrs for the faith, and both spoke boldly for Christ as they
knew that they had to obey God rather than men.
We should imitate these holy Apostles in their zeal for the faith, and
then we will rejoice with them and account the sufferings of this life as nothing
in comparison to the great reward promised those who love and serve God. St.
Paul knew of this reward and said:
“Eye has not seen, or ear heard, nor has it entered the mind of man what
God has prepared for those who love him.”
The First
Friday, 3 July 2015
Now is a good time to continue (or begin) the devotion to the “Nine First Fridays” of the
Month. The Sacred Heart of Jesus promised
to St. Margaret Mary: "I promise thee in the excessive mercy
of My Heart that My all-powerful love will grant to
all those who communicate on the First Friday in nine consecutive months,
the grace of final penitence; they shall not die in My disgrace nor without
receiving the Sacraments; My Divine heart shall be their safe refuge in this
last moment." There is no
better way to honour the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus than doing the “Nine First Fridays” every month.
The First Saturday of the Month
4 July 2015
Our Lady told
Sr. Lucia in 1925 “…I promise to
assist at the hour of death, with all the graces necessary for salvation,
all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months go to
confession and receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary and
keep me company for a quarter of an hour while meditating on the mysteries of
the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me." If only we would do what Our Lady asks,
we would be assured of eternal salvation.
Our Lady promises us all the graces necessary for our salvation if we
keep The
Five
First Saturdays! Just think that
when you are about to die that the
Blessed Virgin Mary will be there with you to help you get to heaven! “Holy
Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.
Amen” How many times have you said
these words in your lifetime?
Mission of the Immaculate
Mediatrix(MIM)
4 July 2015
On the First Saturday of every month,
we will have our monthly formation program for those interested in affiliating themselves with the
Marian Spirituality of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. The day begins
at 9:30 AM and goes until 4 PM and includes two conferences, Holy Mass,
adoration and the rosary. This
spirituality is Marian and Franciscan and includes the teachings of St. Francis
of Assisi, St. Maximilian Kolbe and
other Franciscan saints. “The
fundamental aim of the MIM is the fulfilment of God’s plan for the salvation
and sanctification of all souls through the maternal mediation of the
Immaculate to the supreme glory of the Most Holy Trinity.” (Article 2: Statute)
It is most important at this time in
our world to come together and learn about Our Lady and her messages especially
Fatima.
Pope John Paul II: On
November 9, 1976 said in the USA as Karol Cardinal Wojtyla: “We are now standing in face
of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has gone through. I do not think that the wide circles of
American society or the wide circles of
the Christian community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation
between the Church and the Anti-Church, of the Gospel versus the anti-gospel.”
We hope that all of you will
consider joining the MIM and work for your own sanctification and the
sanctification of so many souls who are
in danger of being lost for all eternity in hell as Our Lady said at
Fatima.
Mission of the Immaculate Mediatrix
First Saturday Day: 4 July 2015
9:30 AM Tea and coffee: St. Joseph’s Hall)
10:00 AM- First Conference: “
11:30 AM- Holy Mass in the
chapel
12:30 PM- Lunch (Bring your
own); Tea supplied
1:30 PM- Quiet Time: Adoration, Confession,
Rosary & Divine Mercy Chaplet
3:00 PM- Benediction
3:15 PM- Second Conference:
4:00-4:30 PM- Tea and Departure
