16th Sunday Year C, 2025

 

(Genesis 18:1-10; Colossians 1:24-28; Luke 10:38-42) 

Mother Church has set before us today readings from the treasury of her Scriptures which urge us to pay careful attention to the sort of welcome we give to Jesus in our lives.

The Gospel reading told us:

Jesus entered a certain village and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house;

and in the first reading we were told of a theophany in which Abraham:

(Seeing) three men standing nearby ran from the entrance of (his) tent to greet them; and bowing to the ground, he said: “Sir, if I may ask you this favour, please do not go on past your servant.  Let some water be brought, that you may bathe your feet, and then rest yourselves under the tree.  Now that you have come this close to your servant, let me bring you a little food that you may refresh yourselves; and afterward you may go on your way.” “Very well,” they replied, “do as you have said.”

Both accounts told of a sincere welcome being given to divine and angelic visitors.   Abraham, on the one hand, was as attentive as he could possibly have been: 

He took butter and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree as they ate.

Martha, on the other hand, in our Gospel reading, was not so selflessly whole-hearted:

(She) was burdened with much serving, and Jesus said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.”

What was Martha so anxious about?  First of all, something that perhaps she did not recognize, namely, her desire not only to prepare well for Jesus, but also to be seen to prepare well. 

There was something else and Jesus had noticed that she was not only “anxious” but also "worried" about something.  Now Martha had a sister, a younger sister, Mary, and it may perhaps have been the case that Martha, being the elder, and also a dynamic sort of person, was accustomed to taking or giving a lead, and the difficulty, the "worrying" aspect for her today, was the fact that Mary was not following her lead, for:

Mary sat beside the Lord at His feet listening to Him speak.  

And so, it was not possible for Martha to be whole-hearted in her welcome of Jesus because she was both concerned about her own image, and, at the same time, irritated by what she considered to be her younger sister’s lack of consideration; and being an honest -- even blunt -- soul, could not restrain herself from making known to Jesus what was, indeed, troubling her:

She approached Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?  Tell her to help me."

Looking again at Abraham, we see that he had been well rewarded for his hospitality and attentiveness; but not only Abraham, for Sarah too had shared fully with Abraham by preparing food for the guests in the background.    Both, therefore, had been rewarded with the promise of a son, the child for whom they had prayed long and hard but who, they had come to think, would never be theirs. 

In the Gospel story, however, although Jesus appreciated Martha's work and solicitude, He considered Mary's attentive love and self-forgetfulness to be of another order, and so, speaking as bluntly as Martha herself had just done, He said:

Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.

Mary’s selfless commitment to, and appreciation of, the Word that Jesus was speaking, was a choice valid for eternity and it won her a blessing that would never be revoked.   Her love for the beauty and authority of Jesus’ message caused her to forget herself; whereas Martha, though she truly loved Jesus, most certainly could not forget herself: she could not humbly work whole-heartedly, as Sarah, Abraham’s wife had done before, when plagued with the thought that she was not being sufficiently appreciated.

Now we are all here at Mass to welcome Jesus -- all of us, I myself, just as much as you – and the welcome we give is, as our readings show, mysteriously significant and important.   Each of us must welcome Jesus, first of all, into our own heart, and then, all of us together, into our parish community and thereby into His universal Church, and finally, let us never forget it, through us and His Church He must be welcomed into our world:

Lord, may this sacrifice which has made our peace with you, advance the peace and salvation of all the world.

At this moment then, the Universal Church and the whole of mankind, are relying, to a certain extent, upon us, and upon the sort of welcome we give to Our Lord: because, the deeper, the more sincere and whole-hearted the welcome, the greater the blessing, for ourselves, for the Church, and for the world.

The apostle Paul, speaking to us in the second reading, said:

I became a minister in accordance with God’s stewardship given to me to bring to completion for you the Word of God, the mystery hidden from ages and from generations past.

Let us now, therefore, listen carefully to him telling us something of the Word he had been sent to preach to us and for us.  It is, he says:

The mystery hidden from ages and from generations past, but now manifested to His holy ones, to whom God chose to make known the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: IT IS CHRIST IN YOU, the hope for glory.

So, the apostle was to proclaim the mystery of Christ dwelling in all who become His faithful disciples in Mother Church: to make known the riches of this mystery by enlightening our minds with the prospect of eternal glory promised by Our Lord, and opening up our hearts for the influx of a joyous and inspiring hope through the gift of His most Holy Spirit. 

The question now is, of course, what sort of welcome are you and I giving, even here and now, to Paul’s proclamation and explanation of the mystery of Christ in us and at work in us through His Spirit?

For some misguided, half-hearted, Catholics Mass begins and ends with Holy Communion.  Now how can such people truly welcome Christ in Holy Communion when they ignore Him in His Holy Word, having no interest in the God-given power, privilege, and duty of Mother Church and her priests to proclaim and explain the mystery of Christ in the Scriptures and in us?  How can they welcome into their own lives Him Whom they can't be bothered to understand in His Body, the Church?  Who can be filled with gratitude for riches of which they choose to be ignorant?

Holy Mass starts at the very beginning of our assembly when we first ask God to free us from our sins.  We do that so that we may be able to celebrate the whole Eucharistic offering aright: first of all by hearing God's word with our ears, as it is read, and then appreciating it with our minds and embracing it in our hearts as it is proclaimed in the homily.  After having thus welcomed Christ in His Word we are thereby enabled and called to fittingly offer ourselves, in Him and with Him, to the Father for His glory and the salvation of mankind, before finally receiving Jesus and welcoming His Gift of the Holy Spirit into our very hearts and lives in Holy Communion.   That is the mystery of the Catholic and Christian life: CHRIST IN US through the Eucharist and Scriptures of Mother Church, and through our openness to the guidance of His most Holy Spirit in our lives.

It is particularly important for us today, however, to give attention to the welcome we accord to the Word of God, to Jesus in the Scriptures proclaimed by Mother Church.  Commonly, these days, people want short readings and almost demand short sermons; and it nearly always raises an easy and rather cheap laugh if this attitude is made into a sort of joke: "If you can't say what you want to say in five minutes, it's not worth saying".   This was not the attitude of the early Church, as can be appreciated from the following account to be found the Acts of the Apostles of a church meeting led by Paul at Troas:

On the first day of the week when we gathered to break bread, Paul spoke to them because he was going to leave on the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.  There was a young man named Eutychus sitting on the window sill sinking into a deep sleep as Paul continued talking, and overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was picked up dead.  Paul went down, threw himself upon him, and said as he embraced him, “Don‘t be alarmed; there is life in him.”  Then he returned upstairs, broke the bread, and ate; after a long conversation that lasted until daybreak, he departed.  And they took the boy away alive and were immeasurably comforted. (Acts 20:7-12)

Obviously, what is prolonged for no good reason is not welcome.  On the other hand, however, no one, having some treasured possession, is ever content to look at it, rejoice in it, mention and show it to friends, just once, and then take no further delight in it.  Now the Scriptures are like a field that contains countless hidden treasures.  If you are computer-wise you will be aware of some programmes where certain words or links are signalled, which, if you press on them, up pops further information, further enlightenment.  Holy Scripture is something like that.  A Scripture reading might seem, at first, to be just a long sequence of not very interesting words, phrases and sentences, but, by the grace of God, any one of those sentences or phrases, indeed almost any one of those words, can be found to contain so much that is beautiful beyond measure.  Now, the only way to discover such treasures contained in the Scriptures is, by learning from the wisdom of Mother Church, and entering into a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit of Jesus, allowing the Him, Who first inspired those sacred words, to reveal something of their meaning to you.  If, however, you do not prayerfully approach the Scriptures, you will hardly be able to patiently hear them proclaimed, and most certainly you will not want to respectfully listen to explanations of them.  When that is the case, then the Holy Spirit will in no way lead you to find the treasures the Scriptures contain, for did not Jesus Himself once say to His Apostles (Matthew 7:6):

Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine.

However, those who do reverence the Scriptures, receive a blessing from the Lord Who spoke through the prophet Isaiah saying:

On this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.   (Isaiah 66:2)

They are the ones who, by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, discover and delight in the hidden treasures of the Scriptures; for them, the words of the Scriptures are revealed as words of life, as Jesus Himself said:

It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'   (Matthew 4:4)

That is the manna God offers us His People as He leads us through the desert of this world to our home in heaven; it is the food we need for a journey which can be long, the food meant to be our comfort and strength here on earth while it leads us to eternal peace and joy in our heavenly home.  May all of us gathered here today be enabled to receive and experience it as such, through the loving kindness and mercy of God our Father, Jesus our Saviour, and the Holy Spirit Who is God’s Gift to each and every one of us in Mother Church.

15th Sunday Year C, 2025

 

(Deuteronomy 30:10-14; Colossians 1:15-20; Luke 10:25-37) 

In the Gospel we were told of a Scribe, an expert in the Jewish Law, who approached Jesus in what is, truly, the only way in which Jesus can be rightly approached:

            "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

The Law (Deuteronomy 6:5) said, as the expert knew well:

'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength;’

however, he went on to pay Jesus a notable compliment by asking Him:

            Who is my neighbour?

Yes, he was an expert in the Law, but here he was asking Jesus what the words meant in practice: that was the humility of a man sincerely seeking to find his way to eternal life. 

Jesus told him a parable about one travelling from Jerusalem down to Jericho falling into the hands of robbers,  an all-too-frequent occurrence that many had suffered before and many others would  experience in the future.  The bandits of the Judean desert did not scruple to kill at times, but in this case, having robbed the man, they were content to leave him, wounded and helpless, by the side of the road.   Many Jews working in the Temple and living in Jericho would make that same dangerous journey, and both the Priest and the Levite in Jesus’ parable may well have recognized the victim as a neighbour, a fellow Jew indeed, perhaps a fellow priest or Levite.   And yet, both of them, out of considerations for legal purity possibly, for personal and family reasons, or because they simply did not want, or did not even dare, to get involved with him, passed him by.  Finally, a Samaritan arrived on the scene.

Now, Samaritans, though closely related, were regarded as enemies by the Jews, and, generally, Samaritans had a no friendship for Jews.  In this case, however, the Samaritan of whom Jesus spoke, having chanced upon the wounded man:

Was moved with compassion at the sight.  He poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them.  Then he took him to an inn, and cared for him.  The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, 'Take care of him.  If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back' 

Jesus was indeed revealing the meaning of the word "neighbour" to the Scribe: for His story showed that that neighbour might turn out to be someone most unexpected.

The passing priest and Levite had the word of God on their lips, as Moses said:

            The word is very near to you, already in your mouth.  (Deut. 30:14)

That word they could repeat, discuss, dispute about, and perhaps use to display their learning.  However, it was so very easy, in such circumstances, to forget that Moses had gone on to say that ‘the word’ was also: In your heart, that you may obey it.

There have always been men able to use the Word of God as a weapon for personal advancement on earth.  On the other hand, those using God’s Word as a guide to our heavenly home, have to humbly ask, patiently knock and wait for, Him Who judges the hidden secrets of each and every human mind and heart; only then will they be enabled to proclaim and manifest something of His divine truth and heavenly beauty before men.

The Scribe, as a Jew, preferred to limit the word "neighbour" to his fellow Jews; but, nevertheless, He felt uneasy about it and so he asked Jesus, "Who is my neighbour?" whereupon Jesus showed him that it was not possible to limit the significance of God's Word according to human  prejudices.  Nevertheless, even when -- at the end of the parable –  Jesus asked:

Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbour to the robbers’ victim?

the expert in the Law could not bring himself utter the words "the Samaritan", so ingrained was his Jewish prejudice!  He could only prevail upon himself to say:

            The one who treated him with mercy.

As we heard in the second reading all the fullness of God dwells in Jesus, and that is why we cannot try to restrict the effect of His Word in our lives.  We are called to become children of God in Jesus and, if we are to be found in His likeness, we must allow ourselves to be formed by His Spirit according to His Word.  We must allow His Spirit to lead us wherever He wills for  the Spirit alone knows the depths of God, He alone is Holy and Wise, and we must trust ourselves to Him.

Modern ideas of acceptable goodness usually involve soft words and accommodating attitudes; clear doctrinal teaching and firm discipline in moral matters are thought to be unacceptably rigid, totally unsympathetic.  And so, many modern pseudo-disciples of Jesus’ goodness (not of Jesus Himself!) can be found trying to imagine the guidance of  ‘His Spirit’ along the broad, loose, lines compatible with modern ideas concerning the total freedom of individuals, the ‘rights’ of those who find themselves in the wrong body (!),  and  society’s right to dispense accommodating ‘goodness’ with no reference to, or need of, any ‘God’. 

People of God,  beg the Holy Spirit to lead your life along the way of Jesus, to form you in Jesus’ likeness, and then try to answer God’s call to faith, trust, and love with a humble simplicity of mind and heart; do not allow your own prayerful thoughts and conscientious actions to be distorted or determined by the selfishness, prejudices and fears, or above all, by the excitement and pride , of modern society.

The Spirit first led Jesus out into the silence of the desert and then along the most unlikely way of the Cross: the disciple of Jesus is not greater than his Master; he or she too, must be obedient enough to humbly follow the lead of the Holy Spirit.  As Jesus said (John 3:8):

The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.  

Finally, let us look at what is perhaps the greatest jewel hidden in the field of today’s readings: Who was, Who is, the Good Samaritan?   How could he just postpone, or at least seriously interrupt his journey to spend a night at the inn, where he was not likely to have been popular as a Samaritan?   Why was he alone able to deal with the man’s wounds?  Why did he not just pay the hotelier extra for that first day’s extra care, as well as for subsequent days’ care, ‘bed and board’?     Was the Samaritan a real person, or was he, in actual fact, a picture of Jesus Himself?  For He interrupted His journey by His suffering and death on Calvary; He alone, by His Gospel provides essential medicine for fallen man.  Jesus did, indeed, continue His journey to His heavenly home and now seeks to cure mankind’s grievous wound by His own abiding heavenly prayer and intercession,  and the earthly ministry of His Church, the inn of help and healing for all seeking true rest and eternal life through saving faith and baptismal grace.

Today we are invited to humbly rejoice in the wonder and mystery of Jesus, to meditate on His goodness, His wisdom.  A Sunday can pass by quickly chewing such cud!                                                                              

14th Sunday Year C, 2025

 

(Isa. 66:10-14; Gal. 6:14-18; Luke 10:1-12, 17-20) 

In our first two readings we were given an appreciation of the essential character of Mother Church, for she -- and we who are in her and of her -- are, according to St. Paul:

            A new creation.

In the Gospel reading we then heard of the Lord sending out seventy-two others, disciples who had learned to delight in their proximity and communion with Jesus, and the strength it afforded them:

He sent (them) ahead of Him in pairs to every town and place He Himself intended to visit.

Their instructions were both simple and firm: first of all, they were being sent in His name, they were not beggars; moreover, they had a clear message to proclaim, they were not to be pleaders or cajolers:

Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God is at hand for you.’

As you can see Jesus wanted His disciples to be single-minded and sincere: they were not to seek money, but neither should they be embarrassed about accepting whatever the house or town could offer by way of food and drink, for "the labourer deserves his payment".  Jesus likewise desired that they should be humble, but in no way lacking confidence in their mission: for their message was from the Lord, not from their own imagination or fancy.  In His name they were to announce a fact, namely that "The Kingdom of God is at hand for you", and to those willing to listen to their message they were to bestow a gift from the Lord:  'Peace to this household.'

Whoever listens to you listens to Me. Whoever rejects you rejects Me. And whoever rejects Me rejects the one who sent Me.”

You can imagine how thrilled the disciples must have been when their mission proved to be a great success; however, notice what Jesus said in response to their enthusiasm:

Do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.

Now that is what St. Paul had in mind when, as you heard, he wrote:

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 

St. Paul loved to teach his converts that belief in Jesus, together with baptism in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, makes us members of the Body of Christ.  He believed this so firmly, and understood it so concretely, that he could then go on to say that, having become members of His Body, therefore we too, in Him, have been crucified with Him:

Through the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.

Let us just try to understand what this meant for Paul.  In his contemplation of this union between Christ and the believer, Paul -- absorbed in divine truth and filled with an overwhelming desire to respond to and co-operate with the Father’s  calling  --  had been led to recognize that:

In Christ Jesus neither does circumcision mean anything nor does uncircumcision, but only a NEW CREATION.

No earthly pride, be it Greek, Roman, or even Jewish, nothing whatsoever that depends on us in any way, could save us from the destructive power of sin; only the totally gratuitous gift of God’s Spirit in response to Jesus’ self-sacrificing love on Calvary could bring us salvation.

Paul had been granted the insight that, -- through the power of Christ’s Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension -- we, who as baptized believers have become members of His Body,  are a new creation. Paul tells us that if one must boast, one should boast about what the Lord Jesus has done for us on the Cross, in His Resurrection, and by the gift of His Spirit.  Circumcision means nothing: that is, personal pride in one’s own holiness gained by legalistic observance of a written Law, and national pride in the exclusiveness of one’s birth; all that means nothing Paul says.  Uncircumcision too means nothing: the Greeks' boasting in their superior wisdom, the Romans' vaunting of their worldly power, all such things too, ultimately, mean nothing.  For a Christian there can be only one cause for boasting: what Christ has done for us and for all who -- whatever their race, culture, or natural abilities -- are being led to believe in Him as Lord and to obey His Spirit; a boasting centred not on self, but on God's goodness, in “our Lord Jesus Christ”, through the Gift of His Spirit:

There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit who works all in all; (for) one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. (1 Corinthians 12: 6, 11)

He, the Spirit of Glory, alone can ensure that our names "are written in heaven". 

Therefore, People of God, we are encouraged today, by the prophet Isaiah, to rejoice in Mother Church: the Church Our Lord continually sustains, promotes, and protects through the working of His Spirit, so that, as He originally willed and enduringly intends, we may ever be able to drink deeply of, and find delight in, the abundance  He gives her.

We are encouraged to rejoice in such a way over Mother Church because, as Isaiah foretold, it is in her and through her that:

The Lord’s power shall be known to His servants.

This most sublime fulfilment is offered us today when, in response to His command, we have come together on His Sabbath Day -- in memory of Him and in the name of all creation -- to offer worship, praise and honour, glory and thanks, to God our Father for His great goodness to us.  On this sublime day we are drawn by the Spirit to share in the heavenly and eternal liturgy being celebrated by our High Priest and Saviour before the Father: a celebration where the whole of obedient creation is united by the Holy Spirit of God under the leadership of the God-man Jesus Christ: here where He does indeed come to us in Communion, but above all, He draws us, by His Gift of the Spirit, ever more and more with Himself towards the Father; He fills us, inspires and enflames us, ever more and more, with that Love which makes Him one with the Father, that Triune Fire of eternal Love which is the glory and very Being of God the Almighty and which can – O wonder of wonders!! -- be shared by us in Jesus as life everlasting; communion, both total and fulfilling; joy, ever fresh and at peace.   

Saints Peter & Paul, 2025

 

(Acts of the Apostles 12:1-11; 2nd. Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18; Matthew 16:13-19) 

Peter and Paul have always been the pride of the Church at Rome, where both of them died for Christ after having openly proclaimed His Gospel there, in what was the then centre of the civilized world.  And we learnt, from the second reading, with what good reason the Church at Rome could glory in St. Paul, when he was able to declare near the end of his life:
 
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith… The Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. 
 
Paul was both deeply learned and extremely courageous: he could dispute with any adversary of Christ; and was quite prepared to endure most extreme bodily privations and dangers, as well as sustain all the physical assaults of his enemies:
 
I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, to abound and to suffer need. 
From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.  Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, of robbers, of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles;  in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren. (Philippians 4:12; 2 Corinthians 11:24-27)

Having heard the Gospel proclaimed and expounded to them by an Apostle able to give, and willing to suffer, so much in order to bring them the authentic Good News of Christ, the Christians at Rome were not only privileged to have received the offer of salvation, but also understandably proud of the messenger who after having so fully, faithfully, and fearlessly proclaimed it to them, finally sealed his witness by suffering martyrdom in their midst.
 
The glory and significance of Peter for Rome and the Church as a whole, however, is of another sort.  He would, like Paul, win the crown of martyrdom for Jesus and the Gospel at Rome. However, the real glory and significance of Peter lay in the fact that he had been uniquely and most sublimely chosen: first by the Father to proclaim Jesus as the Christ, and then by Jesus to receive the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and supreme authority in the Church of Christ on earth (Mt. 16: 16-19)
 
Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’  Jesus answered and said to him: ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father Who is in heaven.  And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.  And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
 
However, Jesus’ ultimate and possibly His most solemn deployment and confirmation of Peter as supreme shepherd for the Church occurred when Our Lord, after His Resurrection, appeared by the Sea of Tiberius to Peter and six other disciples as they were fishing.  Jesus gave them a wondrous catch of fish, foreshadowing their future mission and work in and for the Church He was committing to them; moreover, He had made preparations for breakfast after they had managed to land their catch.  And then, in front of them all:
 
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?’  He said        to Him, ‘Yes Lord, You know that I love you.’  He said to him, ‘Feed My lambs.’  (John 21: 15-17)
 
This was repeated for a second and for a third time, thus comprising what a modern scholar has described as, according to ancient oriental custom, a most solemn conferral of absolute authority. 
 
Why did the Father choose Peter first of all?  We do not know.  But Jesus recognized, accepted and confirmed His Father’s choice; and so, Peter -- though we know of no mystical experiences like those of Paul -- is nevertheless for us, essentially, the man of mystery and grace: specially chosen by the Father to recognize Jesus first of all as the Christ of God and love Him more than all as the Son of Man; and then by Jesus Himself to serve as the earthly rock of His Church and chief shepherd of His people.
 
Paul was outstanding for his wisdom and understanding (2 Corinthians 11:5):
 
I consider that I am not at all inferior to the most eminent apostles; 
 
while in his tireless endeavours and great sufferings for Christ he was incomparable:
 
I ought to have been commended by you; for in nothing was I behind the most eminent apostles, though I am nothing.  Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds. (2 Corinthians 12:11-12)
 
There can be no doubt that St. Paul was, and remains, the most profound and dynamic man of Christian understanding and apostolic endeavour the Church has ever known. 
But that is not the whole of Paul, for he tells us of his sublime mystical experience:
 
I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know …, God knows.  Such a one was caught up to the third heaven.  And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.  Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast except in my infirmities. (2 Corinthians 12:2)
 
Over-and-above, so to speak, the human personalities of Peter and Paul, we recognize the divine consortium manifested at the very origins of the Church of Rome: the Father who had first chosen Peter; the Son Who appointed and commissioned both Peter and Paul; and the Holy Spirit Who called Paul from the church at Antioch to go forth and preach the Gospel before the Emperor in Rome and to all nations.  Today, therefore, let us recall and put into practice the words of the Psalmist:
 
It is good to give thanks to the LORD, and to sing praises to the name of the Most-High. (Psalm 92:1-2).
 
On this great feast, however, let us not forget that we do not just celebrate the wondrous vocations of two great apostles, we celebrate Mother Church herself, and, above all, we give thanks for and rejoice in the Gift of God’s Spirit, Who first established, and now sustains and guides, her.  Let us look closely at our Catholic faith.
 
Jesus said quite clearly: When He, the Spirit of Truth, has come He will guide you into all truth.  He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.  All things that the Father has are Mine.  (John 16:13)
 
The Holy Spirit infallibly guides Mother Church into all truth, Jesus says …. Surely such truth is necessary and required above all for the Gospel proclamation of Our Blessed Lord’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection! 
 
Mother Church believes Jesus’ word and promise that we have Gospel TRUTH; truth -- concerning Jesus’ prayer and suffering in the Garden -- that was probably learned by Mark from Peter who was close to Our Lord at the time and was most passionately and lovingly concerned about such truth; truth that was gathered by John from his own personal experience and by what he learned from Mary -- now his mother living in his own house with him -- after long, intimate, discussions together about what had happened to and with their beloved Lord, her Son.
 
In other words, I believe in a Spirit-guided Church; I believe the truth, expressed and above all in the traditional faith treasured in the hearts and minds of the Apostolic leaders, and in the  Scriptures written down under the inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit, Who, on the day of Pentecost, originally established our Catholic Church and still most assuredly guides her to, and confirms her in, all TRUTH, as Jesus Himself promised and as Mother Church herself 2000 years later still most humbly proclaims and so proudly and gratefully believes.