Thoughts for the Day

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Today we celebrate the Festival of Saint Peter and Saint Paul who each played an important role in building up the early Church. Very different men, Peter was a simple fishermen and became the leader of the apostles as we can see from the incident with Jesus in today's reading. He was impulsive, sometimes reckless and often confused. He was truly human and he exemplified the saying "God does not call the qualified. He qualifies the called". We may not have chosen Peter to lead the Church, all too often we only see the surface value of other people, but Jesus saw beneath this veneer to the man that he would become.

Saint Paul couldn't be different to Saint Peter, but again God saw something in him, even though he had at first persecuted Christians. He is a powerful example of how Jesus can change people, so that the one who persecuted the Church was to take it not to the Jews as Paul the Pharisee might have expected, but to the Gentiles. Both were to die a martyr's death.

Traditionally today, or a day close to this, has been the day for men and women to be ordained. I remember my licensing as a Deaconess, and much later my ordination as a Deacon (my priesting ten years later was to be in May!). It is a day to remember all those who lead God's Church, and to remember that God can take the poorest of material and work with each one of us when we turn to Him in repentance.

Lord Jesus Christ,
You called Peter and Paul to follow You -
two men who did not seem
the most obvious of choices.
Peter was to proclaim You as the Messiah,
even though he would later reject You.
Paul was to start by persecuting Christians,
before teaching and preaching to the gentile world.
We ask You to show us the work
You would have us do this day
and in the years to come.
Amen.