From: Acts 25:13b-21
Festus Briefs Agrippa
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Commentary:
13. Herod Agrippa II was a son of Herod Agrippa I. He was born in the year 27.
Like his father he had won favor with Rome and had been given various territo-
ries in northern Palestine, which he was allowed to rule with the title of king.
Bernice was his sister.
19. Festus’ words show his indifference towards Paul’s beliefs and his religious
controversy with the Jews. The conversation between the two politicians reveals
a typical attitude of worldly men to matters which they consider far-fetched and
irrelevant as far as everyday affairs are concerned. This passage also shows us
that in the course of his trial Paul must have had an opportunity to speak about
Jesus and confess his faith in the Resurrection.
Jesus Christ is alive; he is the center of history and the center of each and every
person’s existence. “The Church believes that Christ, who died and was raised for
the sake of all (cf. 2 Cor 5:15) can show man the way and strengthen him through
the Spirit in order to be worthy of his destiny: nor is there any other name under
heaven given among men by which they can be saved (cf. Acts 4:12). The Church
likewise maintains that the key, the center and the purpose of the whole of man’s
history is to be found in its Lord and Master. She also maintains that beneath all
that changes there is much that is unchanging, much that has its ultimate foun-
dation in Christ, who is the same yesterday, and today, and forever (cf. Heb 13:8)”
(Vatican II, “Gaudium Et Spes”, 10).
“Stir up that fire of faith. Christ is not a figure that has passed. He is not a memo-
ry that is lost in history.
“He lives! ‘”Jesus Christus heri et hodie, ipse et in saecula”’, says Saint Paul,
‘Jesus Christ is the same today as he was yesterday and as he will be for ever”’
(St. J. Escriva, “The Way”, 584).
21. “Caesar” and “Augustus” were titles of the Roman emperor. At this time the
emperor was Nero (54-68).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
From: John 21:15-19
Peter’s Primacy
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Commentary:
15-17. Jesus Christ had promised Peter that he would be the primate of the
Church (cf. Matthew 16:16-19 and note on the same). Despite his three denials
during our Lord’s passion, Christ now confers on him the primacy He promised.
“Jesus questions Peter, three times, as if to give him a triple chance to atone for
his triple denial. Peter has learned his lesson from the bitter experience of his
wretchedness. Aware of his weakness, he is deeply convinced that rash claims
are pointless. Instead he puts everything in Christ’s hands. ‘Lord, You know well
that I love You” (St. J. Escriva, “Friends of God”, 267). The primacy was given
to Peter directly and immediately. So the Church has always understood — and
so Vatican I defined: “We therefore teach and declare that, according to the tes-
timony of the Gospel, the primacy of jurisdiction over the universal Church of God
was immediately and directly promised and given to Blessed Peter the Apostle
by Christ our Lord. [...] And it was upon Simon Peter alone that Jesus after His
resurrection bestowed the jurisdiction of chief pastor and ruler over all His fold in
the words: “Feed My lambs; feed My sheep” (”Pastor Aeternus”, Chapter 1).
The primacy is a grace conferred on Peter and his successors, the popes; it is
one of the basic elements in the Church, designed to guard and protect its unity:
“In order that the episcopate also might be one and undivided, and that [...] the
multitude of the faithful might be kept secure in the oneness of faith and commu-
nion, He set Blessed Peter over the rest of the Apostles, and fixed in him the
abiding principle of this twofold unity, and its visible foundation” (”Pastor Aeter-
nus, Dz-Sch 3051”; cf. Vatican II, “Lumen Gentium”, 18). Therefore, the primacy
of Peter is perpetuated in each of his successors: this is something which Christ
disposed; it is not based on human legislation or custom.
By virtue of the primacy, Peter, and each of his successors, is the shepherd of
the whole Church and vicar of Christ on earth, because he exercises vicariously
Christ’s own authority. Love for the Pope, whom St. Catherine of Siena used to
call “the sweet Christ on earth”, should express itself in prayer, sacrifice and
obedience.
18-19. According to Tradition, St. Peter followed his Master to the point of dying
by crucifixion, head downwards, “Peter and Paul suffered martyrdom in Rome
during Nero’s persecution of Christians, which took place between the years 64
and 68. St. Clement, the successor of the same Peter in the See of the Church
of Rome, recalls this when, writing to the Corinthians, he puts before them ‘the
generous example of these two athletes’: ‘due to jealousy and envy, those who
were the principal and holiest columns suffered persecution and fought the fight
unto death’” (Paul VI, “Petrum Et Paulum”).
“Follow Me!”: these words would have reminded the Apostle of the first call he re-
ceived (cf. Matthew 4:19) and of the fact that Christ requires of His disciples com-
plete self-surrender: “If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself and
take up the Cross daily and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). St. Peter himself, in one of
his letters, also testifies to the Cross being something all Christians must carry:
“For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving
you an example, that you should follow in His steps” (1 Peter 2:21).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.