Storms may come, the Church will never be destroyed.
Gaudium Press English Edition
Newsdesk (05/07/2022 2:00 PM Gaudium Press) On the 29th of June, we are invited by the liturgy to celebrate the merits and achievements of the two princes of the Church, Saint Peter and Saint Paul. They are the pillars on which the Mystical Body of Christ especially stands. Peter, the head of the Apostles, the one who loved Jesus more than any other. He was the first among his companions to proclaim the divinity of the Redeemer, and to him was given the charge, after the resurrection of Jesus, of shepherding the sheep of Christ’s flock.
But there is St. Paul, to whom was given the title of The Apostle. For no one has surpassed him in apostolic zeal and ardour. A tireless missionary, he went through almost the whole of the Roman Empire in order to spread true religion throughout the world.
The gates of hell will never prevail!
It is certainly a great grace to belong to such a divine work as the Holy Catholic Church, which always brings us some supernatural message through its liturgy.
In the first reading for this Feast Day, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, we come across a tragic scene and a stupendous miracle: Herod, after having killed St. James with a sword, shows still more his greed as an insatiable persecutor of the Church by ordering the arrest of Christ’s Vicar himself, in order to kill him on the first occasion.
According to the opinion of men, all was lost and finished, for the Church was doomed to be destroyed as soon as she “opened her eyes to life”. In fact, its foremost leader was in prison, about to be killed.
But what were the faithful to do in such a situation?
“While Peter was kept in prison, the Church prayed continually to God for him.” (Acts 12:5)
Thanks to the trust of Christians, it happened that, when everything pointed to defeat, God intervened, sending his angel in order to free Peter from prison, confounding the perverse plans of the enemies of the faith.
When everything seemed hopeless, Divine Providence intervened in the events, in order to emphasize also for the centuries to come that, although men have the power in their hands, surrounding the Church from all sides, and even if they have wanted to decree her death, the Holy Catholic Church can never be eliminated from the face of the earth, because her immortality is founded on the very words of Christ.
The Church will always triumph
We Catholics, members of the Mystical Body of Christ and children of God, are invited to renew with all the strength of our souls our faith and our certainty in Christ’s promise.
Against all human appearances, we must believe: the Church will “rise” strong, magnificent and radiant, since her mission on this earth is, by its very nature, to be triumphant!
By Jerome Sequeira Vaz
Compiled by Roberta MacEwan
