I’d
like today to look at our first reading.
If this reading seemed a bit surprising to you that is because it is
from the Mass of the Vigil for this Feast, not from the Mass of the day.
In
this reading we start by finding the Apostles Peter and John on their way
somewhere. Now I know this Feast is
Peter and Paul, but in this reading it is Peter and John. So John gets in today’s feast as well. The more Apostles the merrier. Anyway they are on their way. Anyone remember where they were going?
To
the Temple! And why were they headed to
the temple at 3 o’clock in the afternoon?
¿To get there early for a parish fish-fry or fried chicken dinner? NO. To
attend a lively book discussion group? NO. To arrange for a bar-mitzvah or some other
ceremony? NO. We are told they are going to the temple to pray.
Specifically “for the three
o’clock hour of prayer.”
You
see, the ancient Jews had certain set hours for prayer, which they prayed four
times each day: at 6:00 a.m., 9:00 a.m., Noon, and 3:00 p.m. In the Middle East you can still see this
being done in the Muslim call to prayer.
They pray five times a day: pre-dawn, noon, afternoon, sunset and
evening. Has anyone here ever been to
the Middle East or an Islamic country and been awakened at an un-godly hour by
the loud-speaker wailing call to prayer?
We
Christians also have this practice of prayer at certain times of the day. We call it Liturgy of the Hours, or in older
parlance, the Breviary. In monasteries
and religious houses different times of the day are sanctified by Morning
Prayer or Lauds, Evening Prayer or Vespers, Night Prayers or Compline, and
several other services for the enthusiastic.
Some parishes do some of these prayers on a regular basis, and
individual laity pray them as well.
But, unfortunately, prayer at certain hours is not as common among
Christians as it is among Moslems.
Isn’t
it interesting that ancient peoples, whose primary clock was the position of
the sun, were much more committed to making holy the various portions of the
day by regular prayer than we modern types who are so completely – even
obsessively – conscious of time, down to the minute and second and
milli-second. With our atomic clocks,
watches, cell phones, buzzers, and other time keeping devices we live by the
clock. God help us if the Mass starts 4
minutes late!
But we don’t stop to pray as Peter
and John were doing in our first reading.
Of course, we have so many more important things to do than they
did. (that is irony).
But
I digress.
Peter
and John see a crippled man there begging for alms. Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit looked
intently at him and said to him, “Look at us.” Look at us. I find that an interesting thing to
say. Why did Peter say that? What did Peter want the crippled man to
see? I am guessing but I think Peter
wanted this man who was disabled to see in Peter and John the result of their
encounter with the Risen Lord. Peter
wanted him to see the Joy, the Peace, the Faith, the Love, that filled their
hearts and their lives, because that is what Peter was anxious to share with
him. Peter knew the Resurrected Christ
and the fullness of life that flowed from Christ. And that inner healing was what the crippled
man needed most of all. His dis-ability
was spiritual as well as physical.
It
is what all of us need most of all. All
over the world, in our very city, in our very neighborhoods and families, there
are people who are spiritually crippled.
They don’t know why they are here on earth, why they bother to get up
each day, what tremendous worth they have, whose they truly are, what their
eternal destiny is, that they are deeply loved by God. They are spiritually crippled.
Peter
was sent as a messenger of Good News, of the Gospel. And so are we, you and me! Dare we – like St Peter - say to the people
who are lost and lonely, who wander aimlessly through life looking to greed or
pleasure or drugs or booze or some other thing to help them escape the
loneliness and emptiness of their lives, dare we say to them, “Hey, Look at us”? Look at us.
And
if they do, what will they see? Will
they see Good News?
People
all over the world love to look at Pope Francis. Catholics, other Christians, people of other
faiths, people who are “spiritual but not religious”, even atheists, love to
look at Pope Francis. Why? He is alive!
He does not look bored. He may be
angry and upset at how the poor are treated and at organized crime. He may be terribly sad at the loss of lives
of people fleeing violence and poverty.
But still he is alive. Because he
has heard Good News. And he shows
it. Look at him.
And
so St. Peter says “Look at us.” Brothers
and sisters that is what we are called to say as well. Announcing “Look at us,” to all the
spiritually crippled in our lives. Dare
we say that? What will they see if they
do look? Will they see Christians alive
with hope and faith and love and generosity and peace and joy? They should.
That
is what the crippled man in the Gospel saw when he looked at Peter and
John. Peter took him by the hand and
raised him up. And when the man was
healed what did he do? Did he run home
and tell his family? Did he go to the
mall and buy some new shoes that he now needed?
Did he get on 24-hour cable news and tell his remarkable story? NO!
The first reading states: “He leaped up, stood, and walked around, and
went into the temple with them, walking and jumping and praising God.” For he was healed not only in his limbs, but
in his heart. And so the first thing he
does is go into the temple to praise and thank God. He has truly been healed of a confused,
meaningless, pointless life. He has been
healed to worship and praise God.
Today
we celebrate two great Apostles, Sts Peter and Paul. They were heralds of the Good News. They are examples and inspirations for
us. For we too are called to go and
announce the Gospel of the Lord. Happy
Feast Day!
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