Breaking the Word

Sol. of Sts. Peter& Paul, Saturday – 29^th June 2022 — Gospel: Mt 16,13-19

Flawed Heroes

Reading the biographies of St. Peter and St. Paul from Scriptures, we find more closely that they were quite flawed in their lives. They did not always act like super-heroes. The wisdom of God is again manifested in the very fact of choosing sinful, errant individuals to be the cornerstone of the living, human and divine, edifice known as the Church. What made them great was not their talent, personalities, or intelligence. They were leaders and saints because they cooperated with the Holy Spirit to do the will of the Lord. Jesus selected a rough fisher who often acted without thinking matters through, in order to show us that God can use even coarse stones to make a beautiful structure. In fact, God prefers the rough rocks so that God can chip away at them and shape them in order to form the needed edifice that will have a firm foundation. Jesus gives Peter the name Cephas meaning “the rock” – the rock on which the church will be built. In the same way, God chose the ultra-conservative and traditional Jewish Pharisee and tent-maker to announce the message of salvation to those who were not Jews and who were made out of a different material than the believers of old. Thus, Saul of Tarsus became Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles. Both Peter and Paul had to go through a lengthy process in order to grow in their understanding of, and their relationship with, the God who had called them to be the foundation of this new structure of God’s revelation.

13^th Week in Ord. Time, Tuesday – 28^th June 2022 — Gospel: Mt 8, 23-27

Pray in Dark Moments

In Matthew 8 we find Jesus cleansed a leper, healed a centurion’s servant, and healed many at the house of Peter. He was truly a physical healer. Now towards the end of chapter 8, we also see his power over nature, even the winds and the seas obeyed him. The cry of the people in the boat, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” is a prayer that echoes Psalm 130, 1-2 “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications”. It is a prayer offered at the darkest times of one’s lives, when we feel completely powerless to help ourselves. Jesus sleeping in the midst of a storm is a very powerful image of God’s sovereignty over even the darkest times in our lives. He is ever present, even though he is not awake. St. Therese of Lisieux used to meditate often this passage in times of her inner confusion or darkness. Yet she wouldn’t feel the need to wake the Lord. Instead, she felt comfortable and said it was just enough to sit beside him as Jesus slept.