SATURDAY—June 29, 2013 - SOLEMNITY OF STS PETER AND PAUL First reading: Acts 12:1-11 Psalm 34 Second reading: 2Timothy 4:6-8. 17-18 GOSPEL: Mt 16:13-19 Matthew 16:13-19 13 When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" 14 They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" 16 Simon Peter said in reply, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." 17 Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. 18 And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." REFLECTION: Today, we don’t only recall but celebrate the Solemnity of our two great pillars in the Church Sts Peter and Paul, especially the great achievements they brought to the nascent Church during the first century of Christianity, on how they really live-out or witness the faith they have received from God the Father, though the Lord Jesus in the Holy Spirit to the point of shedding their own blood for the sake of Christ our Lord. These two great Saints, Peter and Paul, remind all the baptized Christians of today of authenticity of our Christian faith being passed on to us by these men. These two men of great faith in the Lord Jesus have experienced and encountered the Lord Jesus personally that’s why we are sure of their personal testimony as authentic through their respective writings (Letters of Paul and Peter). In the gospel, we heard the confession of Peter about Jesus. Peter confesses the real identity of the Lord Jesus. Peter’s confession was the fruit of his personal experience being with the Lord, the Son of the “living” God. St Paul, on the other hand, had also shown the same confession and conviction though in different way. His experience with the risen Lord had led him to a radical conversion and eventually became a missionary to the Gentile people. Thus, both of them have experienced the same Person, the Lord Jesus. ""But who do you say that I am?". The question of Jesus in today’s gospel, as it were, possesses the same frequency and demands from each one of us a direct and personal answer to his question as we follow the listen and follow him. Sts Peter and Paul have shown us the kind of witnessing the faith, a faith that is rooted in personal encounter with the Messiah, the Son of the living God. The martyrdom they experienced echoed the kind of faith they have in the Lord Jesus. Like Peter and Paul, we too, are called to witness our faith in the Lord Jesus in our respective and simple way in living the faith. Once we truly live out our faith, then we can truly claim that, indeed, the Lord is truly alive and ever-present in our midst, the Messiah, the Son of the “living” God. Amen.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Jun 2013 09:37:50 +0000
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