Octave Day of Saints Peter and Paul

Here is today's collect from the Sarum Missal: O God Whose right hand raised St. Peter the Apostle as he walked on the waves that he sank not, and delivered His Apostle Paul, who thrice suffered shipwreck, from the deep of the sea, graciously hear us and grant that for the sake of both we may attain unto everlasting glory.

May God strengthen you and uphold you, my friend. May He carry you through all dangers to everlasting joy.

The post-Communion prayer is also lovely to contemplate: O Lord let the Sacrament which we have received prepare for us a heavenly healing at the prayers of Thy Apostles Peter and Paul.

Through Sorrow to Beauty

I went to the New Horizons concert yesterday. The conductor, Maryann Flock, dedicated the performance of Nimrod from Elgar's Enigma Variations to your memory [she misses you, too].

It is a work of sweet melancholy, named only incidentally for the Biblical figure; the variation is really named for Augustus Jaeger, Elgar's friend, who encouraged him to not give up, but to make new music, even when his troubles seemed overwhelming.

And that is what you must do, too, meine Freundin. Through all your troubles, in the depths of your heart, offer, if you can, a song of thanksgiving to our Maker for His blessings. If such is now beyond your strength, then wait and endure, sustained by the hidden God Who gives us life, while He helps you to expiate your sins, to grow in charity, and to become perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect.

At last, Saint Rebecca, when you are worthy of that name, when all the desires of your soul are rightly ordered and you can raise your eyes to our Maker unashamed, then you will make music again joyfully to the honor of His name, and you will know the reason for your gifts, and the purpose for your burdens.

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Today, instead of a set prayer, I offer on your behalf a prayerful reading from Holy Scripture, the twelfth chapter of Saint Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews:

¹ And therefore we also having so great a cloud of witnesses over our head, laying aside every weight and sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us:
² Looking on Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, who having joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and now sitteth on the right hand of the throne of God.
³ For think diligently upon him that endured such opposition from sinners against himself; that you be not wearied, fainting in your minds.
⁴ For you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin:
⁵ And you have forgotten the consolation, which speaketh to you, as unto children, saying: My son, neglect not the discipline of the Lord; neither be thou wearied whilst thou art rebuked by him.
⁶ For whom the Lord loveth, he chastiseth; and he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
⁷ Persevere under discipline. God dealeth with you as with his sons; for what son is there, whom the father doth not correct?
⁸ But if you be without chastisement, whereof all are made partakers, then are you bastards, and not sons.
⁹ Moreover we have had fathers of our flesh, for instructors, and we reverenced them: shall we not much more obey the Father of spirits, and live?
¹⁰ And they indeed for a few days, according to their own pleasure, instructed us: but he, for our profit, that we might receive his sanctification.
¹¹ Now all chastisement for the present indeed seemeth not to bring with it joy, but sorrow: but afterwards it will yield, to them that are exercised by it, the most peaceable fruit of justice.
¹² Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees,
¹³ And make straight steps with your feet: that no one, halting, may go out of the way; but rather be healed.
¹⁴ Follow peace with all men, and holiness: without which no man shall see God.
¹⁵ Looking diligently, lest any man be wanting to the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up do hinder, and by it many be defiled.
¹⁶ Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau; who for one mess, sold his first birthright.
¹⁷ For know ye that afterwards, when he desired to inherit the benediction, he was rejected; for he found no place of repentance, although with tears he had sought it.
¹⁸ For you are not come to a mountain that might be touched, and a burning fire, and a whirlwind, and darkness, and storm,
¹⁹ And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which they that heard excused themselves, that the word might not be spoken to them:
²⁰ For they did not endure that which was said: And if so much as a beast shall touch the mount, it shall be stoned.
²¹ And so terrible was that which was seen, Moses said: I am frighted, and tremble.
²² But you are come to mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the company of many thousands of angels,
²³ And to the church of the firstborn, who are written in the heavens, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the just made perfect,
²⁴ And to Jesus the mediator of the new testament, and to the sprinkling of blood which speaketh better than that of Abel.
²⁵ See that you refuse him not that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spoke upon the earth, much more shall not we, that turn away from him that speaketh to us from heaven.
²⁶ Whose voice then moved the earth; but now he promiseth, saying: Yet once more, and I will move not only the earth, but heaven also.
²⁷ And in that he saith, Yet once more, he signifieth the translation of the moveable things as made, that those things may remain which are immoveable.
²⁸ Therefore receiving an immoveable kingdom, we have grace; whereby let us serve, pleasing God, with fear and reverence.
²⁹ For our God is a consuming fire.

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Saint Paul, holy apostle, pray for us, that we may freely lay aside every weight and sin that hinders us from running the race that God has proposed to us.

Saint Venantius, holy martyr, pray for us that we may be freed from envy and malice and all sin, and love God with our whole hearts, and our whole souls, and our whole minds, and our neighbor as ourselves.

Prayers to Sts. Peter and Paul

(found here and, in part, here)

Saint Peter the Apostle

Thou art the Shepherd of the sheep, the Prince of the Apostles, unto thee were given the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

℣. Thou art Peter;

℟. And upon this rock I will build my Church.

Let us pray.

Raise us up, we beseech thee, O Lord, by the apostolic assistance of blessed Peter, thine Apostle: so that the weaker we are, the more mightily we may be helped by the power of his intercession: and that being perpetually defended by the same holy Apostle, we may neither yield to any iniquity, nor be overcome by any adversity. Through Christ our Lord.

O glorious Saint Peter, who, in return for thy lively and generous faith, thy profound and sincere humility, and thy burning love, wast honoured by Jesus Christ with singular privileges, and, in particular, with the leadership of the other Apostles and the primacy of the whole Church, of which thou wast made the foundation stone, do thou obtain for us the grace of a lively faith, that shall not fear to profess itself openly, in its entirety and in all of its manifestations, even to the shedding of blood, if occasion should demand it, and to the sacrifice of life itself in preference to surrender. Obtain for us likewise, a sincere loyalty to our holy mother, the Church; grant that we may ever remain most closely and sincerely united to the Roman Pontiff, who is the heir of thy faith and of thy authority, the one, true, visible Head of the Catholic Church, that mystic ark outside which there is no salvation. Grant, moreover, that we may follow, in all humility and meekness, her teaching and her counsels, and may be obedient to all her precepts, in order to be able here on earth to enjoy a peace that is sure and undisturbed, and to attain one day in heaven to everlasting happiness. Amen.

℣. Pray for us, Saint Peter the Apostle,

℟. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray.

O God, who hast given unto thy blessed Apostle Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and the power to bind and loose: grant that we may be delivered, through the help of his intercession, from the bonds of all our sins: Who livest and reignest with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, through all the ages of ages. Amen.

Saint Paul the Apostle

Thou art the Vessel of election, Saint Paul the Apostle, the Preacher of truth in the whole world.

℣. Pray for us, Saint Paul the Apostle,

℟. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray.

Almighty and everlasting God, who, of thy divine mercy, didst instruct thy blessed Apostle Paul what he should to that he might be filled with the Holy Ghost; by his admonitions directing us and his merits interceding for us, grant that we may serve thee in fear and trembling, and so be filled with the comfort of thy heavenly gifts. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

O glorious Saint Paul, who, from being a persecutor of the Christian name, didst become its most zealous Apostle, and who, to carry the knowledge of our Jesus, our divine Saviour, to the uttermost parts of the earth, didst joyfully suffer prison, scourgings, stonings, shipwreck and all manner of persecutions, and who didst finish thy course by shedding the last drop of thy blood: obtain for us the grace to accept, as favours bestowed by the mercy of God, the infirmities, sufferings and misfortunes of this life, that we may not grow slack in our service of God by reason of these vicissitudes of our exile, but that we may the rather show ourselves ever more devoted. Amen.

℣. Pray for us, Saint Paul the Apostle,

℟. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray.

O God, who hast taught the multitude of the Gentiles by the preaching of blessed Paul the Apostle: grant unto us, we beseech thee, that we who keep his memory sacred, may feel the might of his intercession before thee. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, in all the ages of ages. Amen.

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Pray, princes of the apostles, for the parish named in your honor, and for all God's holy Church.

A Novena to the Holy Ghost for Healing (Day 8)

And it happened that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever, and of a bloody flux. To whom Paul entered in; and when he had prayed, and laid his hands on him, he healed him.
Acts 28:8

Our Father Who art in heaven...

Hail Mary, Full of Grace, ...

Glory be to the Father... (7 times)

Act of Consecration

Almighty and merciful Father, refuge and salvation of those who believe, I beg Thee: remember Thy daughter R-, please forgive her her sins, and heal her infirmities. O Holy Spirit, Giver of Life, I beg Thee: in loving-kindness grant Thy gift of healing to my friend. Condescend, most holy Lord, to repair Thy temple which is her body, and to abide there, keeping R- safe from all shadow of darkness. O Blessed Savior, Love incarnate, mighty God at Whose command the storms cease and the dead arise, I implore Thee, save Thy handmaid from her affliction. Heal her as Thou healed the Canaanite's daughter and the centurion's servant, and grant that she may give thanks to Thee in Thy church and bless Thy holy Name forever.

Amen.

The Holy Apostle Paul

I wonder what Rabbi Gamaliel thought of his student Saul (better known to us as St. Paul). Gamaliel was a moderating force in the Sanhedrin; he argued for lenient treatment of Christians.

Many believe that Saul was also a member of the Sanhedrin. He was certainly not a moderating force there: when the first Christian martyr died, Saul held the coats of the men doing the stoning and approved what they did.

Saul continued to persecute the Church, arresting some and scattering others. (St. Philip the Deacon is one who evaded Saul. He traveled first north to Samaria and then west to Gaza, making converts, notably Simon Magus and the Ethiopian eunuch).

Saul was on the road to Damascus to persecute the Church there, when our Lord intervened, blinding him, rebuking him, then sending Ananias, the bishop of Damascus, to heal and baptize him. In Damascus, Saul began speaking out on behalf of the Church instead of against it.

He soon withdrew to Arabia, perhaps to meditate on the Scriptures and on the revelation he had personally received, and to understand and prepare for the new life to which the Lord was calling him.

After three years he returned to Damascus, began preaching the gospel again, and was soon forced to flee by the offended Jews of that city. He went to Jerusalem to visit Saint Peter, and there was met with distrust, because of his history, until Saint Barnabas vouched for him. In Jerusalem he again preached the gospel, and again antagonized the local Jewish population (specifically the Hellenized Jews). They plotted his murder, so leaving Jerusalem he returned to his native Tarsus and is lost to history for the next few years.

While Paul was in Tarsus, the followers of Christ that had been dispersed by persecutions spoke to Jew and gentile, converting many. Saint Barnabas was sent to support the new Church in Antioch; he sought out Paul, and together the two of them built up the Church there. It was in Antioch that the followers of Christ were first named Christians.

Antioch became the base from which Saint Paul set out on the great journeys of evangelization recorded in Holy Scripture. The Catholic Encyclopedia divides his travels into "three great Apostolic expeditions of which Antioch was in each instance the starting-point and which invariably ended in a visit to Jerusalem."

When the Book of Acts ends, St. Paul is still in the midst of his labors. He is believed to have travelled as far west as Spain to preach the Good News.

He ended his days in Rome, around the mid-60s AD, during the persecution by Emperor Nero. The Cistercian Abbey of Tre Fontane is located on the site of his beheading.

Saint Paul is invoked and honored with St. Peter in the Confiteor, in the prayer to the Most Holy Trinity, in the Communicantes, in the Libera nos, and in the Leonine prayers recited after Low Mass. He is remembered every June 29th together with the first Pope, Saint Peter, who was also martyred in Rome.