PETER AND PAUL, APOSTLES OF JESUS CHRIST

FEAST OF ST. PETER AND PAUL - 2 Timothy 4:6-8,17-18; Mt 16:13-19

Peter was one of the first disciples to be called and then chosen to be part of the restricted number of the Apostles, in which he rose to prominence, being outspoken and forceful in his approach to Jesus. He was Simon, a married fisherman from Capernaum, to whom Jesus changed the name into Peter, or Rock. When Jesus spoke about his impending death, he was ready to contradict him, affirming that such could not be the destiny of the Messiah, and he was ready to boast about his faithfulness, when Jesus warned him about his betrayal. This Simon, the Rock, proved to be a coward, ready to hide and protect himself, instead of being truthful and faithful.

St. Peter, the patron of my home parish, Tarouca.

As outspoken, he became the spokesman of the whole group, expressing aloud what all the others were thinking in their hearts. And he proclaimed the faith that constitutes the rock upon which the Church is founded: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16). We cannot belong to the Church without professing this faith that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of the living God. For this profession of faith, Simon, the Rock, stands out as a pillar of the Church, and Jesus put him in charge of the Church.

Peter sinned, and his sin was great, but he recognised his weakness in tears and accepted Jesus’ love and compassion. Having sinned, he became aware that in him  there was nothing to boast about, and that only Jesus Christ could transform him into a new person.

Paul’s journey was even harder and bumpy than that of Peter. In fact, nobody can walk in straight line to God, but in spite of our crooked lines, God is able to guide us to safe port.

Although a Jew, Paul was born in the diaspora as a Roman citizen. Brought up as a pharisee, in spite of the Greek culture that surrounded him, he was a fundamentalist, observing the Law in all its rigour. That fundamentalism led him to persecute the Christians, intent on uprooting them. But then Jesus found him out, and his life was changed for ever.  He put his life totally at the service of Jesus Christ and opened the doors of the Church to people of all nations, becoming the Apostle of the Gentiles.

At the end of his life, he could say: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tm 4:7).

May we keep the faith that Peter proclaimed and may we centre our lives on Jesus Christ as Paul did, and then like them we will receive the crown of glory.

GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD

FEAST OF THE EUCHARIST - Jn 6:51-58

In “Our Father”, the prayer that supersedes all others, because in it we pray with Jesus’ own words, we ask:

Give us this day our daily bread.

There is another possible translation: 

Give us this day our bread for tomorrow.

And this makes it clear that we are not just asking for food to keep us alive in this passing world. In the end, we must remember that “man does not live on bread alone”, as the first reading reminds us (Dt 8:3). We need bread, that is we need food to keep us alive, and God took care of that, while the people of Israel wandered in the desert. 

As we pray: Give us this day our daily bread, we must remember that are many people starving in the world, who are not able to find their daily bread. And this starvation is degrading to the point that there are whole populations starving to death. And this happens while multitudes of other people suffer from obesity due to over eating. They have much more than their daily bread, and throw their surplus to waste.

However, we need much more than food for our bellies; we need to be fed by the word that comes from the mouth of God, a word that is liberating, because it is a word of peace, life and salvation. So we pray to have this day our bread for tomorrow, or the bread that is a guarantee of life, received to the full. We need today this bread that takes us beyond the present and gives us the strength to walk towards the tomorrow of fulfilment lived in God.

The daily bread, which is also the bread for tomorrow, is Jesus Christ himself, who said: “I am the living bread!” (Jn 6:51). And Jesus gives himself to us as the living bread in the Eucharist. This bread, which is the bread of live, is the body and the blood of Jesus Christ, as he said: “the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (Jn 6:51). And this is the bread that we pray for, whenever we pray “Our Father”.

This bread - the body and the blood of Jesus - is to be shared, as all of us sit at the table of the Lord, so that all of us may become one in Jesus Christ.

The celebration of the Eucharist demands sharing and building of the community, a community which is the body of Christ. As Jesus shares his body and blood with us, and by doing so, gives us life, so must we share, building up a community in which each one is ready to give and to die so that the others may have their share in life. A true celebration of the Eucharist has a social and even political dimension, and if we are true to ourselves and true to Christ, there should be no starvation in the world, because the rich stop being rich, sharing with the ones who are starving.

“Give us this day our daily bread, that is our bread for tomorrow”, so that we may have the strength and the courage to walk together towards the Father’s house, where we will enjoy life to the full.

GOD IS A COMMUNITY OF LOVE

THE FEAST OF THE HOLY TRINITY - Ex 34:4-6,8-9

God is relationship

The Holy Trinity means that our God is a God of relationships, because in his own self he is relationship, a relationship established in love. And because himself is relationship, he desired to establish a relationship with human beings.

The ups and downs of that relationship

In the Bible, we can go through the ups and downs of this relationship. The interesting about the Bible is that it approaches the relationship between God and man from both sides; and that is the reason why the Holy Scriptures are so appealing to many people. If on one side, we find so much of divine, on the other side we can find a real people living a true human life, full of contradictions, of achievements and failures, in a constant quest and search for God and at the same in a continuous attitude of betrayal and rebellion. And we can discover a God who never gets tired of walking alongside people, even if ignored or unnoticed.

In the Bible, God speaks the human language

When we read the Bible, we should remember that in it we hear God speaking the human language, making himself present in people’s life, history and culture. His face remains obscure, but as he moves along, finding always news ways of interacting with people, his countenance becomes clearer and more defined.

In the letter to the Hebrews, we are reminded that “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds.” (Hb 1:1-2).

A progressive revelation

Full of patience, in his wisdom, God revealed himself little by little according to the human capacity of understanding his message. If we pay attention to this progressive caracter of God’s revelation, then we will not be surprised that in the Old Testament we find things which are considered strange by today’s mentality. Many times, as we read books such as Joshua, Judges and Kings, we may be faced with a god that seems to be a bloody god, ready to order the massacre of the enemies. However, in old times and in many different cultures, the slaughter of whole towns and villages of the vanquished nations was quite common. Reading Joshua, we are told that Joshua killed everybody in Jericho and in most of the towns conquered by him. However, all that reveals more the literary style of the epic singing of the founding hero than the reality of what happened, because as soon as we read the book of Judges, we discover that all those peoples that had been massacred are still there, living side by side with the people of Israel, and being for them a constant source of trouble.

God’s steadfast love and faithfulness

Reading the Bible, we learn to read how God intervenes in human history and how he makes a constant effort to touch our hearts, leading us to accept his offer of a relationship of love. In the first reading, revealing himself to Moses, God proclaims:

“The Lord, the Lord,

a God merciful and gracious,

slow to anger,

and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” 

(Ex 34:6)

As we celebrate the Holy Trinity, we are celebrating this God who revealed himself as “merciful and gracious”, “abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness”. The Holy Trinity means that God is a community of love, and we are called to be part of that community. Being love, God is an outpouring of love, because true love is never self-centred, but rejoices in sharing, establishing bonds of love and being a community. God is the source of all communities which are built up and kept together in love.

FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT, PEOPLES OF ALL LANGUAGES BECOME ONE FAMILY

THE FEAST OF PENTECOST

The Feast of Pentecost, being the feast of the Holy Spirit, is at the same time the feast of the Church, which was born of the Spirit and go on living, guided, strengthened and protected by the Spirit.

The Spirit that leads us to Christ and unites us with him makes of the Church a special community, the community of the followers of Jesus Christ, who live in the world as passers by, walking steadfastly to the Promised Land, the Kingdom of God, where, being one with Christ, we will become true reflections of the glory of God.

As a community filled with the Spirit of Jesus Christ, we are called to be light and salt of the world, helping people to find the way and to discover meaning for their lives, by leading them to Christ. This community of believers stands out as a witness of Jesus Christ and proclaims the Good News of salvation, which we receive in him.

As a community filled with the Spirit, the Church must be a community of reconciled people, building up peace and communion in a world torn by divisions; being yeast of love, the Church must overcome selfishness and hatred.

The Holy Spirit comes to us as the Spirit of wisdom, knowledge, courage and boldness, which enable us to be true witnesses of Jesus Christ; and he comes as the Spirit of love, making it possible for us to think of the others, caring for them more than for ourselves. Only the Holy Spirit can enable us to love with the same courage, determination and selflessness as Jesus loved.

In the Church, born on the day of Pentecost, peoples of all languages can feel at home and become one family. Race, tribe and nation are no more sources of division and separation. In Christ, we become one body, having received one and the same Spirit, who ties us together with strings of love. This universality and this openness come from the Holy Spirit, who transforms us from within, grafting us in Jesus Christ, and in him, making of us children of God.