WE ARE CELEBRATING SS. PETER AND PAUL WITH A NOVENA
We all know that June 29th is the solemn feast of the two great apostles of the Universal Church; St. Peter and St. Paul. Our Church here was entrusted to the patronage of these great apostles, and we are grateful to God for their examples and prayers.
Patron saints are entrusted to local churches for their intercession and for their examples for each local and particular church to emulate. In their weaknesses and strengths, we are called to learn from them, as we continue on this Journey leading home – in the glory of heaven.
As we prepare to celebrate this feast this year, we have chosen to pray for nine days in a novena leading to this day. I invite you dear friends that starting with Saturday June 20th, you join the deacons and I, in prayer and reflection. We shall pray for their intercession, but also reflection their lives for our encouragement. We pray to God that we are served with the strength they showed while on earth here below. As we reflect where their weakness showed, that is still, a source for our encouragement for the fact that God’s grace works through each of our weaknesses leading us to be counted saints.
We all know St. Peter would always speak for the rest of the apostles, and more often he spoke in such a way that even the Lord Jesus would be surprised at his answers. Yet still, Peter, faced with the Passion of the Lord, he denied knowing Jesus. Interestingly, it is this man to whom the keys of heaven are handed! Later on he would witness to the risen Lord to the point of shedding his blood. What about the man, who was once an enemy, who turned out to be the great defender of Jesus! We recognize a great shift here, from an enemy with the sword, to a defender with a pen in his numerous writings.
In the lives of the two apostles, we recognize and appreciate the possibilities in each of our lives. The Lord intends that we all be saved. God calls each one of us to sainthood. The grace of our God is always at work in each of us, lifting each from darkness to light.
Our reflections will navigate through these themes, as they help us on the Journey with Ss. Peter and Paul. Please plan to join us everyday for the nine days at 3pm, from June 20th to the 28th. And on Monday the 29th at 12 noon we shall crown in it with a Eucharistic celebration honoring God who lifts up the weak to make them great saints.
Ss. Peter and Paul, Pray for us!