• June 29th - Solemnity of SS. Peter and Paul

    From rich@1:396/4 to All on Fri Jun 28 09:49:39 2019
    From: rich <richarra@gmail.com>

    June 29th - Solemnity of SS. Peter and Paul

    SS. Peter and Paul always listen to the prayers of their devotees.
    Time has not diminished their power, and from Heaven--even more than
    when they were on earth--they do not abandon the interests of the
    Church or neglect the least of the inhabitants of this glorious
    earthly City of God, of which they were and remain princes.

    One of the triumphs of the Devil in our times is to have dulled the
    faith of good people in this regard. It is necessary to insist that
    man awake from this deathlike sleep that makes us forget that Our Lord
    wanted these two saints to continue His work and represent Him visibly
    on earth.

    St. Ambrose extols the continuing, vibrant apostolic mission of the
    Church, and expresses with profundity and delicacy the roles of SS.
    Peter and Paul in the salvation of the elect. The Church, he says, is
    the ship from which Peter fishes, and for this labor at times he
    receives an order to use the hook, and at other times, the net. It is
    a great mystery, for this fishing is entirely supernatural. While the
    net does not harm the fish, the hook wounds it; the net takes in
    multitudes, the hook catches a single fish. The good fish does not
    resist the hook of Peter because it does not kill, but rather
    converts. Fortunate the gash that permits one to profess the same
    faith of Peter!

    It is for this reason that Jesus told Peter: =E2=80=9C"Put out into the dee=
    p
    water, and let down the nets for a catch=E2=80=9D (Luke 5:1) =E2=80=9CPut o=
    ut into the
    deep water=E2=80=9D--that is, go to the very depths of the hearts of men. = =E2=80=98Put
    out into the deep water=E2=80=9D--go to Christ, the source of living waters=
    of
    wisdom and knowledge.

    Peter continues to fish every day. Our Lord tells him: =E2=80=9CPut out int=
    o
    the deep water.=E2=80=9D But one seems to hear Peter replying: =E2=80=9CMas= ter, we
    have worked all night with no result.=E2=80=9D Peter suffers when we are hard-hearted. Paul is also fighting for our souls. Didn't he tell u=
    s
    that no one suffers without him also suffering? We should act in a way
    that does not make the Apostles suffer.


    Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corr=C3=AAa de Oliveira: (died 1995)

    These are very beautiful words. Let us consider some of the thoughts in the=
    m.

    First, the selection makes an interesting remark about how Divine
    Providence permitted the faith of many good people to be dulled
    regarding the roles that St. Peter and St. Paul exercise in Heaven.
    This is true. Devotion to the Apostles has diminished a great deal,
    except for devotion to St. Jude Thaddeus, who was an almost unknown
    Apostle and for a time even raised some suspicion because people
    thought that this Judas might be Judas Iscariot, also a member of the
    College of Apostles. Except for the devotion to St. Jude, who became
    the patron of the impossible, devotion to the other Apostles decreased
    a great deal.

    This diminishment is completely unreasonable since it is evident that
    the mission of the Apostles did not diminish with time. On the
    contrary, we know that their mission continues now and will continue
    until the end of time. They were not Apostles for just one epoch. They
    were not men who saved souls in the first days of the Church, and then
    went to Heaven where they do nothing. They are there now with Our Lord
    Jesus Christ watching and exercising a role over the entire Church.

    The apostolate they made in their times was a seed they planted that
    contained the apostolate of all epochs. From Heaven they continue to
    nurture and develop it. Therefore, devotion to them is a necessary
    thing, and this selection gives us an opportunity to recommend
    ourselves to St. Peter and St. Paul, to pray to them, and to increase
    our devotion to them.

    Second, the selection seems to insinuate a difference between the
    apostolate of St. Peter--made with a hook--and the one of St.
    Paul--made with a net. The distinction between these two different
    methods of apostolate is useful. The apostolate of the net is meant to
    catch a large number of people; the apostolate of the hook is destined
    to catch this or that particular person.

    Third, the text speaks beautifully of the apostolate of hook, saying
    that the hook wounds the mouth of the fish, but by means of this gash
    he pays the price of his conversion. There are conversions that are
    very difficult, that are only possible through great sacrifices and
    sufferings. The blood exacted by the great effort is the price paid to
    be a part of the Catholic Church. This is a normal characteristic of
    the apostolate of the hook.

    There are conversions, however, that are painless. In the Middle Age,
    for example, we have the marvelous examples of the conversions of
    Kings who brought entire nations with them: the kingdom of the Franks
    came to the Church with Clovis, the Hungarians with St. Stephen, the
    Polish with Boleslaus, the Ukrainians with St. Vladimir, and so on.
    These were apostolates of the net that brought a multitude of souls
    without any special suffering.

    Fourth, another beautiful part of this selection speaks of the
    apostolate when it is without fruit. St. Peter and St. Paul
    experienced enormous difficulties in their apostolates, and also
    enjoyed times of extraordinary successes. They were not easy labors
    with =E2=80=9Chappy endings.=E2=80=9D It was hard work along rocky paths th=
    at required
    much prayer and supernatural help in order to go forward. Without this
    help, the apostolate is fruitless.

    We should remember this in our own mission. We should keep in mind
    that St. Peter's fished all night and was unsuccessful. But when he
    asked Our Lord for help, the net was lifted from the water filled with
    fish.


    Saint Quote
    If you wish for a method brief and compendious, one which contains in
    itself all other methods and is most efficacious in conquering all
    temptations and difficulties, and acquiring perfection, this is the
    exercise of the presence of God.
    --St. Basil

    Bible Quote:
    The just shall rejoice in the Lord, and shall hope in him: and all the
    upright in heart shall be praised.=C2 (Psalms 63:11)


    <><><><>
    The prayer of Saint Francis:

    Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace.
    Where there be hatred, let me sow love;
    Where there be injury, pardon;
    Where there be discord, unity;
    Where there be doubt, faith;
    =C2 Where there be despair, hope;
    =C2 Where there be darkness, light;
    Where there be sadness, joy.

    Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
    To be understood as to understand;
    To be loved as to love.
    =C2 For it is in giving that we receive;
    It is in pardoning that we be pardoned;
    And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

    Amen.
    --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
    * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)