Tim Greenway:Jesus4OurWorld: A Church founded on the Apostles

Welcome to my blog.

Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Peter and Paul. On Peter Jesus founded his Church and promised that ‘the netherworld will never prevail against it’. Through the indominable efforts of St. Paul he established this Church throughout the Roman Empire. To this day, he preserves his Church as a bastion of Truth.

Monday 29 June 2020

A Church founded on the Apostles

These are the ones who, living in the flesh,

planted the Church with their blood;

they drank the chalice of the Lord

and became the friends of God.

Collect

Father in heaven, who on the Solemnity of the Apostles Peter and Paul

give us the noble and holy joy of this day,

grant, we pray, that your Church

may in all things follow the teaching

of those through whom she received

the beginnings of right religion.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

____________________

First reading

Acts 12:1–11 ·

Now I know for certain that the Lord rescued me from the hand of Herod.

In those days, King Herod laid hands upon some members of the church to harm them. He had James, the brother of John, killed by the sword, and when he saw that this was pleasing to the Jews he proceeded to arrest Peter also. —It was the feast of Unleavened Bread.— He had him taken into custody and put in prison under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each. He intended to bring him before the people after Passover. Peter thus was being kept in prison, but prayer by the church was fervently being made to God on his behalf.

On the very night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter, secured by double chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while outside the door guards kept watch on the prison. Suddenly the angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and awakened him, saying, “Get up quickly.” The chains fell from his wrists. The angel said to him, “Put on your belt and your sandals.” He did so. Then he said to him, “Put on your cloak and follow me.” So he followed him out, not realizing that what was happening through the angel was real; he thought he was seeing a vision. They passed the first guard, then the second, and came to the iron gate leading out to the city, which opened for them by itself. They emerged and made their way down an alley, and suddenly the angel left him.

Then Peter recovered his senses and said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people had been expecting.” THE WORD OF THE LORD

Prayerful reflection

King Herod has dire plans to kill Peter. He is supreme and his wish will be carried out. But, there One greater than he. The whole community are united in prayer for Peter. God listens and intervenes because Peter is necessary for the welfare of the community of believers. He intervenes in a dramatic way too. Herod is nothing before him.

In the life of the Church and in our own individual lives, let us remember that God is supreme over all human beings. Even the greatest and most powerful are nothing before him. Like the first Christians, we need to pray night and day trusting in t he goodness and power of God, our Father, He will always answer sincere prayer. He may not do it in such a dramatic way as here, ur he will work on our behalf. He will always do what his best for his children.

The strongest prayer is when “prayer by the church (is) was fervently being made to God”. When we are united in prayer, Jesus is in our midst interceding with his Father (Matt 18:20).

Are you united in prayer with other believers, earnestly beseeching him for what you need?

Psalm

Psalm 34:2–3, 4–5, 6–7, 8–9