From: rich <
richarra@gmail.com>
February 22nd - Chair of Peter the Apostle
=C2 This feast commemorates Christ's choosing Peter to sit in his place
as the servant-authority of the whole Church.
After the "lost weekend" of pain, doubt and self-torment following
Christ's crucifixion and burial, Peter hears the Good News. Angels at
the tomb say to Mary Magdalene, "The Lord has risen! Go, tell his
disciples and Peter." John relates that when he and Peter ran to the
tomb, the younger outraced the older, then waited for him. Peter
entered, saw the wrappings on the ground, the headpiece rolled up in a
place by itself. John saw and believed. But he adds a reminder:
"...They did not yet understand the scripture that he had to rise from
the dead" (John 20:9). They went home. There the slowly exploding,
impossible idea became reality. Jesus appeared to them as they waited
fearfully behind locked doors. "Peace be with you," he said (John
20:21b), and they rejoiced.
The Pentecostal event completed Peter's experience of the risen
Christ. "...They were all filled with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:4a) and
began to express themselves in foreign tongues and make bold
proclamation as the Spirit prompted them.
Only then can Peter fulfill the task Jesus had given him: "...Once you
have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers" (Luke 22:32). He
at once becomes the spokesman for the Twelve about their experience of
the Holy Spirit-before the civil authorities who wished to quash their preaching, before the council of Jerusalem, for the community in the
problem of Ananias and Sapphira. He is the first to preach the Good
News to the Gentiles. The healing power of Jesus in him is well
attested: the raising of Tabitha from the dead, the cure of the
crippled beggar. People carry the sick into the streets so that when
Peter passed his shadow might fall on them.
Even a saint experiences difficulty in Christian living. When Peter
stopped eating with Gentile converts because he did not want to wound
the sensibilities of Jewish Christians, Paul says, "...I opposed him
to his face because he clearly was wrong.... They were not on the
right road in line with the truth of the gospel..." (Galatians 2:11b,
14a).
At the end of John's Gospel, Jesus says to Peter, "Amen, amen, I say
to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where
you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands,
and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to
go" (John 21:18). What Jesus said indicated the sort of death by which
Peter was to glorify God. On Vatican Hill, in Rome, during the reign
of Nero, Peter did glorify his Lord with a martyr's death, probably in
the company of many Christians.
Quote: Peter described our Christian calling in the opening of his
First Letter: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope through
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead..." (1 Peter 1:3a).
Saint Quotes:
"The Lord is loving toward men, swift to pardon but slow to punish.
Let no man despair of his own salvation. Peter, the first and foremost
of the apostles, denied the Lord three times before a little servant
girl, but he repented and wept bitterly"
--Cyril of Jerusalem (Catechetical Lectures 2:19 [A.D. 350]).
"[Simon Magus] so deceived the city of Rome that Claudius erected a
statue of him . . .While the error was extending itself, Peter and
Paul arrived, a noble pair and the rulers of the Church, and they set
the error aright. . . . [T]hey launched the weapon of their
like-mindedness in prayer against the Magus, and struck him down to
earth. It was marvelous enough, and yet no marvel at all, for Peter
was there-he that carries about the keys of heaven [Matt. 16:19]"
(ibid., 6:14).
--Cyril of Jerusalem
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Meditation for the Day
=C2 =C2 The world doesn't need super men or women, but supernatural pe=
ople.
People who will turn the self out of their lives and let Divine Power
work through them. Let inspiration take the place of aspiration. Seek
to grow spiritually, rather than to acquire fame and riches. Our chief
ambition should be to be used by God. The Divine Force is sufficient
for all the spiritual work in the world. God only needs the
instruments for His use. His instruments can remake the world.
--- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
* Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)