Lord My Chef Sunday Recipe, Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Solemnity of Sts. Peter & Paul, Apostles, 29 June 2025
Acts 12:1-11 ><}}}}*> 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18 ><}}}}*> Matthew 16:13-19
We enter today the 13th week in Ordinary Time with a fourth celebration on a Sunday of another Solemnity, that of Saints Peter and Paul, the two pillars of the Church Jesus Christ established over 2000 years ago.
Sts. Peter and Paul were men of diverse backgrounds with Peter the fisherman, impulsive and so human while Paul the Pharisee was an intellectual converted by an encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. Both were flawed as persons yet so loved and called by the Lord – Peter as first leader of his church and Paul as its first missionary to the Gentiles. Their Solemnity reminds us of Christ’s call for us to build his Body, his Church here on earth.
While this celebration is about the two great apostles of Jesus, our readings direct us to God’s goodness and grace in his actions on behalf of the church founded by Christ. Its focus is on God, not ourselves.
Being an apostle of Jesus is not about doing great things or being so good but more of encountering and keeping faith in Christ our Lord. By recognizing ourselves as the church – the Body of Christ as we have reflected last Sunday, all of our actions are indeed God’s actions on behalf of the church because it is through us that the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus’ death and resurrection is continued and completed in this age.
What is essential is we constantly enter into a conversation with Jesus in prayer not only to tell him things but most especially for us to realize how he sees us!
When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:13-18).
What really happened at Caesarea Philippi was a close encounter of the apostles with Jesus, especially Simon whom would he called as Peter on that day on.
Very often in most reflections and commentaries, we are told to answer the question of Jesus like Peter in our most personal way not based from what we have read or heard: “who do you say I am?”
Of course, what else can we say but imitate Peter’s answer that seems to be the most correct answer.
But, is it really the best answer? Not really.
Paul later in his many writings will declare similar answers but far more better like when he said “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil.1:21).
Jesus is telling us something else in this scene, as if asking us too, would you want to know “who do I say you are?” What the Lord is actually telling us in this scene is the fact that he knows us so well inasmuch as he knows himself perfectly because he is God. In fact, he had said there was no need for him to have human testimony as the Christ (Jn. 2:25; 5:34).
What I see more at Caesarea Philippi is Jesus Christ’s omniscience as God who knows everything – even that early he already knew Peter would deny him thrice, that Judas Iscariot would betray him, so on and so forth.
Jesus knows everything about us but he chose to love and believe in us that despite and in spite of everything he knew that could go wrong with us later in life, of how we would fall into sin over and over, STILL – he calls us, he sends us on a mission because he believes in us, he loves us.
Many times in life, we forget the truth about the saints who are just like us, ordinary people with many weaknesses and flaws, imperfections and even idiosyncrasies. What made them stand out and did all those great feats for the Lord was because they were able to see themselves the way Jesus sees them.
That’s the very core of the story at Caesarea Philippi – Jesus made the apostles felt especially Peter how valuable they were, how they were all loved, of how Jesus saw them as his ambassadors later when he returns to the Father.
Jesus had no need of knowing what people were saying about him because he knew himself so well aside from the fact he surely knew what they were saying about him. Actually, the answers the apostles gave him were for them to know and think about why people wrongly perceived Jesus.
Most of all, Jesus had no need to know what everyone of us is saying about who he is because, again, he knows himself perfectly. Whatever answer others would have given about him would have been surely appreciated and praised by Jesus. What matters most for everyone to realize is the fact that despite Christ’s foreknowledge of Peter’s fall and weaknesses, he still dared to call him to head his church. The same holds true with everyone of us. Jesus wants us to continue building his Body, his church here on earth, to make Jesus more present in us in this world so dark and lost searching for meaning except in Christ.
The same thing is true with Paul when Jesus called him on the road to Damascus to persecute the first Christians. Jesus knew everything Paul was doing; most of all, Jesus knew that even when converted, Paul would still be stubborn and insistent, would eventually quarrel with other disciples like Peter, Barnabas and John Mark but still, Jesus called him and even set him aside for a special mission to the Gentiles.
Again in his experiences, Paul saw how Jesus loved and trusted him that even he were the worst of all the apostles of the Lord, he was given such great task of proclaiming the gospel to the ends of the earth at that time. That is why in our second reading we find Paul giving up his whole life in the service of Jesus after experiencing Christ’s tremendous love for him.
Like Peter and Paul, we are all gifted with the same faith in Christ Jesus who challenges us to accept the same mission to continue in this modern time of proclaiming his gospel of love and mercy, of building up his Body the church so that there would be a more humane and just society here on earth as Vatican II envisioned (Lumen Gentium).
Many times when God works in us and through us, we could not believe it as happening like Peter when set free from prison by an angel at night. There are times we are resigned with our situations, of being deserving of the many hardships and sufferings without realizing that there are more bad things we deserve to suffer in this life but Jesus spared us because he believes in us that he sends us to some more missions for him.
Lord Jesus Christ,
thank you for still calling me,
sending me to a mission
despite my many flaws
and imperfections;
thank you for trusting me,
believing me;
let me see myself the way
you see me as someone
worth loving and trusting.
Amen.
St. Peter and St. Paul,
pray for us!
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