PILLARS OF FAITH AND CHRISTIANITY.
June 29, 2022.
Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles.
“You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18
A Latin proverb says: “A weak foundation destroys the work.”
And a British proverb adds: “No good building without a good foundation.”
If we accept faith and the following of Christ as a
building, this edifice is erected on Pillars. The Apostles are the foundations
of our faith in Jesus Christ. We even profess it in our Credo when we say, “I
believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.” Through this article of
our Creed, we say the nature of the Church. For, the words One, Holy, Catholic,
and Apostolic are its four identity marks.
The Church is ONE. This means that it is a single, united
and global Church that has its basis in Christ Jesus. The Church is HOLY
because it is the Body of Christ with Jesus as the head. This does not mean
that all members of the Church are sin-free. But that the Church and her
sacraments help to make the faithful holy. The Church is CATHOLIC: the word
catholic literally means ‘universal.’ The role of the Church is to spread the
Word of God universally across the world. And lastly, the Church is APOSTOLIC:
the origin and belief of the Church started with the apostles at Pentecost.
They are its profounders and pillars of faith.
With the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, we celebrate the
fourth mark, the fourth element of the nature of the Church, its Apostolicity.
We profess here that the Church holds its origin in the faith of the Apostles
of the Lord. In its Apostolic dimension, a very significant place is given to
the profession of faith and the work of two Apostles, Peter and Paul. They are
both the two cornerstones and the main pillars of the Church as a community of
believers.
Celebrating the solemnity of Peter and Paul, we also turn
our hearts and our honor in a very particular way on the figure and the person
of the Pope as the Vicar of Christ, the seal and guardian of the unity and the
universality of the Church, and the defender of our faith. Today, therefore,
takes all its meaning as Pope's Day, or the Feast of the Pope, one very special
devotion for St. Luigi Orione.
For Don Orione, everything aims at a specific goal, in an
organized way. The Orionine charism consists of a package of
‘Ecclesiality-Popeness’ to be brought about through charity: “to commit
ourselves, by every kind of works of charity to spread and make grow in the
Christian people… a most sweet love for the Vicar of Our Lord Jesus Christ on
earth, that is the Roman Pontiff.” As if to say with Sta. Catherine of Siena,
“sweet Christ on earth.” This day is a special opportunity to express our
faithfulness and filial docility to him and pray for his mission and the
Church.
The entrance antiphon that plunges us into this solemnity
invites us to sing the two Apostles and their mission, saying: “These are the
ones who, living in the flesh, planted the church with their blood; they drank
the chalice of the Lord and became the friends of God.” The readings, on the
other hand, speak of the heroic life of Peter and Paul, and how, through their
sacrifices, they professed their faith in Jesus and brought other people, until
you and me, to believe in him and follow him. In the first reading, we have the
episode of the persecution of the first Christian Community by the Jewish
Leaders and King Herod. Luke speaks of the Herodian persecution and shows how
God, through the Holy Spirit, freed Peter from the hand of the King. We sing
with the Psalmist that the Lord delivers those who believe in him from all
their fears.
In the second reading, Paul speaks of himself. He says, “I
have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.” The
Apostle mentions all the hardships he went through and what more awaits him
because of his faith in the Lord Jesus and the proclamation of the Gospel. One
same line of awareness like that of Peter is that the hand of the Lord has
never departed from him. Even amidst his trials, the Lord was with him to
rescue him and give him strength.
With the two pillars of the Church, we understand that faith
is what makes one read, comprehend, and accept his trials as a means of
glorification. Without faith, no one can withstand hardship.
The Gospel of Matthew plunges us into the depth of the faith
of Peter, his proclamation of Jesus as the Messiah. When he and his companions
were asked by the Lord, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” and “who do
you say that I am?” Peter as head of the Apostolic College answered: “You are
the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” A proclamation which is not made only
by human achievement, but also by divine revelation. And so, Jesus gave him
authority and power over his Church, the community of believers: “you are
Peter, and upon this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of the
netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the
kingdom of heaven…”
Peter is handed with the keys to open us to faith by forgiveness and lead us to the kingdom of God. As he himself was forgiven and elected, so he can forgive other sinners as well. And Paul, with the sword of his courage and the strength of his preaching, carves into our hearts the words of Christ, the Word of our salvation. Both of them, Peter and Paul, with the Keys and the Sword in their hands, lead us to faith in Jesus and on the way to salvation. With them, let us pray for the Church led by Pope Francis, the "sweet Christ on earth" that it should stand firm as the Sacrament of Communion, Unity, Forgiveness, and instrument of Peace and Harmony in the world.
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