THE WORD AND THE FEAST
November 18, 2019: Dedication of the Basilicas of St. Peter and St.Paul
Acts 28: 11-16, 30-31; Matthew 14: 22-33
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| St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican |
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| Basilica of St. Paul outside the Walls |
Just last week we celebrated the memory of the dedication of the Basilica of St. John at the Lateran! Here are two more (of the 4 major basilicas) - the Basilicas dedicated to these two Pillars of the Church - to Peter at Vatican (the famous Vatican St.Peter's Church) and to St. Paul outside the walls of Olden Rome.
The Gospel presents to us Peter, who did not mind the turbulent sea, the raging waves, the frightening darkness... all that he heard was the call of his Lord, beckoning him, "Come." He steps on to the sea and begins to walk. The limitedness of his faith notwithstanding, he was a man who trusted the Lord blindly!
The first reading presents to us Paul, arriving in Rome! Not a pilgrimage or a tour, he reaches as a prisoner... and remains in house arrest. He doesn't seem to bother at all about that, because his only concern was to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ - and that he was able to do, peacefully! For him that was all which mattered. In prison or free, under prohibition or not, he could not but preach the Gospel. "Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel," he said (1 Cor 9:16).
As we thank the Lord for the gift of these great apostles Peter and Paul, let us pray for the gift of the blind trust they had in the Lord and total dedication they demonstrated for the WORD. Actually, it was not blind! It was blind only in as much as it did not see the dangers, the risks, the stakes, the difficulties, the hurdles, the challenges, the hindrances, the blocks and pitfalls that lay around. But it was because, their eyes, their ears and their hearts were fixed on just one point: the Lord, the Lord's goodness, the Lord's love for them, the Lord's commission which had to be carried out by any means. More than calling it blind trust, we would do well to call it, the singular focus!