St. Peter and St. Paul the Apostles

Psalm 21

Reading: St. Matthew 16.13-20

Meditation: As Jesus took up his cross, so did Peter and Paul. Jesus in our stead, Peter and Paul for our benefit.  For these great apostles gained their courage and fortitude to face death only because they took to heart the death of Christ for them. When Jesus first told his disciples that He must suffer, Peter— who had just confessed, You are the Christ—could not accept it.  He had not yet learned that Jesus had to suffer many things, nor to take up his own cross and follow.  Thus he denied Him thrice.  But when Peter has learned of Christ’s suffering, then he, and Paul, and every martyr, could take up his own cross—in Peter’s case, quite literally.  For it is through much tribulation that faith learns well what it cost our Lord to earn salvation, and how very precious is His Gospel.  When Christian people suffer for Christ, accepting their lot for His sake, suffering willingly rather than compromise themselves against His truth, it means they have learned the lesson of Peter and Paul.  Both refused to renounce Him, knowing what a disgrace the Church would otherwise have suffered, and what eternal blessings Christ had earned for her. 

Collect:

O God, who didst give Thine Apostles Peter and Paul grace to lay down their lives for the sake of Thy dear Son, endow us, we beseech Thee, with like constancy that we may at all times be ready to lay down our lives for Him who laid down His life for us; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.

Meditation is from Every Day Will I Bless Thee: Meditations for the Daily Office by Burnell F Eckardt Jr. Sussex, Wis.: Concordia Catechetical Academy, 1992.