Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul

Readings of the day: RB 22 Sleeping Arrangements for the Community

Mass: Ac 12:1-11; Resp Ps 34; 2 Tm 4:6-8, 17-18; Mt 16:13-19

Shroud of Turin center

But who do you say that I am?

I remember Fr Tom Royce, SJ, of blessed memory. Fr Tom was kind enough to speak about Ignatian Spirituality in a class I taught on Christian Spirituality. I used to drive to Portland, OR, between classes to pick him up because, as his obituary relates: ‘In the latter years of his life Fr. Tom was afflicted with macular degeneration, which curtailed his driving. He quickly switched to the bus and train, and gladly accepted rides from friends and co-workers.’ Fr Tom used to say to me, ‘I can’t see, but I can hear!’ Not only could he hear, Fr Tom spoke in a booming, clear voice.

The class Fr Tom visited was full of seminarians and not just those registered for the class. Others would come to listen to the respected Jesuit. Fr Tom related something he learned shortly after he joined the Society as a teenager. It was during his first 30-day retreat that he learned something that changed his life forever. As Fr Tom shared, ‘I learned that Jesus was a person.’ Now and then I think about what Fr Tom said. Jesus Christ is a Person. Jesus is a Person who wants to get in touch with me, a Man who loves me, is searching for me, and wants to be in relationship with me. Jesus is the God of the Living. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Who do you say that Jesus is? Thank you, Fr Tom. Rest in peace.

Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.

You are Christ, the Son of the Living God.