29-06-24 Penuh Kejutan! Kisah Dua Sahabat yang Mengubah Dunia: Petrus dan Paulus

St Peter and St Paul, Apostles "Mt 16:13-19" Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church"; 'I know you well, Peter', Our Lord could say, 'I know you are weak, but you are Peter! I know that you will fail me in the moment when I will need you most; I know that you still argue with the others about who is to be the first and the greatest, but I know as well that you love Me, and I know what you will be able to do for love of Me. I know you well, Peter, but feeble and vain, denying Me and running away, I will still build my Church on you; and I tell you here, in front of all the other Apostles and the entire world so that it may never be forgotten until the end of time, that you are MY ROCK, and the gates of hell and the powers of death and the enemies of the Church and the persecutors of My disciples SHALL NOT PREVAIL!' One day St Paul saw Peter misbehaving with some gentiles (Gal 2:11-14). He had to correct St Peter and he did so. St Peter didn't need correction for his teachings (he was the Pope), but he was a man and made mistakes. Nevertheless, St Paul never hesitated to follow the Rock and to go to Jerusalem to see St Peter (Gal 1:18). That's the power of the Church: she's built on Rock. "There is nothing more powerful than the Church; give up fighting her, lest she overpower your strength. Wage not war against heaven. If you fight a man, you conquer or are conquered. But if you fight the Church, you cannot conquer. For God is stronger than all... Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away. What words? You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (St John Chrysostom). Holy Mary, Mother of the Church, St Peter and St Paul, pray for us!