Theme

Solemnity of Sts. Peter & Paul *29^ndJune 2008*
Theme :	*‘Witnesses of Faith’*
1st. Reading:	Acts 12: 1-11
2nd Reading:	2 Timothy 4: 6-18
Gospel :	Matthew 16:13 -19

Dear Friend,

All of us are significant people and are called to be role models for someone or another. Parents and elders lead by example. Community leaders and teachers do influence people by their behaviour. We may not consider ourselves important but we do play an important role in the society we live in and the community we are part of. As Christians we are called to be role models for others. Our faith is not a personal affair but has to be expressed in word and deed. Mandela, Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, St. Peter and St. Paul took this responsibility seriously. Can we not do the same? Have a faith witnessing weekend!

Fr. Jude Botelho

This first reading from the Acts of the Apostles describes the persecution of the early Christians and their religious leaders by King Herod. Herod had brutally murdered the apostle James, who was considered more important than the other apostles. Herod was now planning to do away with the apostles Peter and Paul. He had Peter arrested and thrown into prison under maximum security. He had four sets of soldiers guarding him, with one set constantly handcuffed to Peter day and night while the other two guarded the doors and the passage in the prison. He intended to try Peter publicly after the Passover break. While Peter was his prison the early Christians gathered to pray that God might rescue their leader, whom they could not reach out to. Then something dramatic happens in the prison. An angel of God appears; Peter sees a light and his chains dropping away. He is led out of the prisons as the soldiers appear to be drugged or asleep. Peter did nothing to escape. After his exit out of prison Peter, not sure whether it’s a dream or real goes to the house where the disciples were praying and acknowledges that God has rescued him. God can work dramatically in our lives if only we believe and let Him have his way in our lives.

Power of Prayer
A missionary on furlough told this true story while visiting his home church in Michigan... "While serving at a small field hospital in Africa, every two weeks I travelled by bicycle through the jungle to a nearby city for supplies. This was a journey of two days and required camping overnight at the halfway point. On one of these journeys, I arrived in the city where I planned to collect money from a bank, purchase medicine and supplies, and then begin my two-day journey back to the field hospital. Upon arrival in the city, I observed two men fighting, one of whom had been seriously injured. I treated him for his injuries and at the same time talked to him about the Lord Jesus Christ. I then travelled two days, camping overnight, and arrived home without incident. Two weeks later I repeated my journey. Upon arriving in the city, I was approached by the young man I had treated. He told me that he had known that I carried money and medicines. He said, "Some friends and I followed you into the jungle, knowing you would camp overnight. We planned to kill you and take your money and drugs. But just as we were about to move into your camp, we saw that you were surrounded by 26 armed guards.'" At this I laughed and said that I was certainly all alone out in that jungle campsite. The young man pressed the point, however, and said, 'No sir, I was not the only person to see the guards. My five friends also saw them, and we all counted them." It was because of those guards that we were afraid and left you alone. At this point in the sermon, one of the men in the congregation jumped to his feet and interrupted the missionary and asked if he could tell him the exact day this happened. The missionary told the congregation the date and the man who interrupted told him this story: "On the night of your incident in Africa, it was morning here and I was preparing to go play golf. I was about to putt when I felt the urge to pray for you. In fact, the urging of the Lord was so strong; I called men in this church to meet with me here in the sanctuary to pray for you. Would all of those men who met with me on that day stand up?" The men who had met together to pray that day stood up. The missionary wasn't concerned with who they were, he was too busy counting how many men he saw. There were 26."
Anonymous

In the second reading from St. Paul’s second letter to Timothy, Paul gives witness to how the grace of God has been working in him and through him. He knows he is reaching the end of his life and feels proud that God’s grace has not been in vain. He can honestly say “I have fought the good fight. I have run the race successfully. I have kept the faith. What remains for me is to receive the crown of glory.” But this reward is not for Paul alone but for all those who have faithfully kept the faith. If he did it we can do so as well, with the grace of God. Paul is grateful that he has been rescued from the lion’s mouth, referring possibly to his encounter with Emperor Nero. But he knows that ultimately his faith journey will end in martyrdom. He is unafraid because meeting the Lord Jesus is the reward he awaits in the end.

A dedicated life….
Nelson Mandela tells us that when he was struggling to establish himself as a young lawyer in Johannesburg he was friendly with a businessman by the name of Hans Muller, a man who saw the world through the prism of supply and demand. One day Muller pointed out the window and said, “Look out there, Nelson. Do you see those men and women scurrying up and down the street? What is it they are pursuing? I’ll tell you: all of them without exception are after wealth and money, because wealth and money equal happiness. That is want you must struggle for: money and nothing but money.” The advice was well meant. Mandela was an intelligent man. If he had taken Muller’s advice he could have done well for himself. Luckily for South Africa, he didn’t. Instead of looking after Number One, Mandela decided to dedicate himself to serving his country. When he made his decision to dedicate his life to serve his country, he didn’t know that it would mean spending twenty seven years of his life in prison. Like Paul, perhaps, Mandela could say I have run the race and kept the faith. We too are challenged to be faithful.
First quoted in ‘The Little Brown Book of Anecdotes’

In today’s gospel according to Matthew, we have an early example of an opinion poll and Jesus himself conducted it. Even it was very a very limited one it concerned a central issue: the identity of Jesus. When Jesus asked the question: who do people say that I am, the people came up with a variety of answers to the crucial question as to who Jesus was. Having heard what others had to say about him Jesus turned to the twelve and asked, “And you, who do you say that I am?” Perhaps he already knew what they thought about him but still he gave them an opportunity to express it themselves. It is important that we come up with our own answers and express what we feel and believe about Jesus. It is not important to repeat the official answers. We have to make our faith our own. A second-hand faith is a poor faith. Our own answer is important though at times it may not be the right answer. Jesus praised Peter not because he had his own answer, but because he had the right answer. Jesus pronounces Peter blessed by God and gives him the name Peter, “Rock”. “You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church.” In the catholic tradition this indicates Peter’s primacy and later on the primacy of his successors. What follows are a series of promises: the building of the Church on the foundation of Peter, the assurance that the powers of death will not prevail against the Church, the promise of the keys, symbolizing the handing over of authority, and power of binding and loosing. What seems clear from the statement of Jesus to Peter was that even though Peter may have not understood the full importance of his profession of faith, Jesus designated Peter to play a leadership role in the Church. His faith was to be the foundation on which Jesus would build his Church. In spite of his frailties and weaknesses Peter would be the one whom Jesus would use to strengthen his brothers and build the Church. We too are called to grow in our relationship with Jesus and our understanding of the faith. The important thing is to believe out of personal conviction. The more such people we have in the Church, the more it is founded on rock. Jesus saw the goodness in Peter and built on it. We too must seeks the goodness of God in everyone and build on it.

“It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in you power, may not be in your time, that there’ll be any fruit. But that doesn’t mean that you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.” --Gandhi

Called to be Yourself
President Calvin Coolidge once invited friends from his hometown to dine at the White House. Worried about their table manners, the guests decided to do everything that Coolidge did. This strategy succeeded until coffee was served. The president poured his coffee into the saucer. The guests did the same. Coolidge added sugar and cream. His guests did too. Then Coolidge bent over snd put the saucer on the floor for his cat.
Eric Oleson in ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul’

“You do not have to be your mother unless she is who you want to be. You do not have to be your mother’s mother, or your mother’s mother’s mother, or even your grandmother’s mother on your father’s side. You may inherit their chins or their hips or their eyes, but you are not destined to become the women who came before you. You are not destined to live their lives. So if you inherit something, inherit their strength, their resilience. Because the only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” –Pam Finger

In the world to come I shall not be asked, “Why were you not Moses?” I should be asked, “Why were you not Zusya?” – Rabbi Zusya

May we, like Peter and Paul, be models of our faith by the way we live!

Fr. Jude Botelho
judebotelho@niscort.com

P.S. :The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in these reflections. I would be happy if you could link this website to your own parish/diocesan/institutional website. If you wish to receive these reflections by e-mail, or send them to a friend, do send in the e-mail address to <jude@netforlife.plus.com>

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