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
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