Monday of the First Week of Lent

 A Lenten Renewal:
Reflections on the Mass readings in light of our daily lives
By Mother Marie Julie, SCMC
 
My Dear Good People,
 
          Today is the Feast of the Chair of Peter. This commemorates the authority of the Pope as head of the Catholic Church, tracing that responsibility back to the scene in today’s Gospel when Jesus asked His apostles, Who do you say that I am? and Peter answered, You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  Jesus then said to Peter,  …so I say, You are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matthew 16: 13-19).
 
          It’s been said so many times, Peter was the least likely to be named Pope of Jesus’ newly established Church. But Jesus didn’t feel that way. With all his faults, his impetuous nature and his lack of understanding of what Jesus was really about, who denied ever knowing Jesus the night before He died, still, Peter had a heart for God that served him in good stead as the first Pope. His was a rocky road, and there were disagreements in the early church about what was the ‘right’ way to do things after Jesus had returned to heaven, but all the apostles turned to Peter as their rock, the one chosen by Jesus to direct them as they carried out the last task given to them by Jesus, Go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost (Matthew 28:19).
 
          What does this Feast say to us today? Without a doubt, it makes us hopeful that we don’t have to be perfect to be chosen by God for great things. How does that happen? The Grace of God is at work in one who has a heart to serve and to love.
 
          And who’s to say you and I won’t ever do something beautiful for God? Maybe it’s already happened, Let us ask St. Peter who began his adult life as a fisherman and became the vicar of Jesus Christ to pray for us today that we might make full use of the talents and graces God gives us to serve Him in whatever way He chooses for us. We may never have our name in lights, but if the Light of Christ shines in us for others, that will be enough.  
 
Let your light shine today. Someone walking in darkness will be very pleased to see you coming.
And you may not even know it….
 
God bless you.
 
 
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“With Mary, our lives continually proclaim the greatness of the Lord and the joy experienced in rendering service to Him.”

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