Sunday

1 Peter 2:16 To silence, by honest living, the ignorant
16 chatter of fools; that is what God expects of you. Free men, but
the liberty you enjoy is not to be made a pretext for wrong-doing;
17 it is to be used in God’s service. Give all men their due; to the
brethren, your love; to God, your reverence; to the king, due
honour.

Navarre Commentary:

“When citizens are under the oppression of a public authority which oversteps its competence, they should still not refuse to give or to do whatever is objectively demanded of them by the common good; but it is legitimate for them to defend their own rights and those of their fellow citizens against abuses of this authority within the limits of the natural law and the law of the Gospel” (Vatican II, Gaudium et spes, 74). 

6. By obeying political authority, the faithful are not surrendering their freedom; on the contrary, they are correctly using, in generous service of God and of others, the freedom which Christ has won for them. St Peter encourages them to “live as free men”, conscious that they are “servants of God”.

Prayer:  Having risen from sleep I hasten to Thee, O Lord, Lover of men, and by Thy loving-kindness I strive to do Thy work, and I pray to Thee:  help me at all times, in everything, and deliver me from every evil thing of the world and every attack of the devil, and lead me into Thine eternal Kingdom. For Thou art my Creator, the Giver and Provider of everything good, and all my hope is in Thee, and to Thee I send up glory, now and ever, and to the ages of ages.  Amen.
*Prayer for the next day’s morning

Monday
More on Christians as citizens: …Christians “should be a shining example by their sense of responsibility and their dedication to the common good; they should show in practice how authority can be reconciled with freedom, personal initiative with the solidarity and the needs of the whole social framework, and the advantages of unity with profitable diversity” (Gaudium et spes, 75).17. The Christian’s social and political duties are summed up here in four points. “Honour all men”: that is, treat them as befits their human dignity (cf. Gaudium et spes, 12-22). “Love the brotherhood,” that is, everyone in the Church, thereby keeping our Lord’s new commandment (cf. 1 Pet 1:22; Jn 13:34). “Fear God,” the source of all wisdom, avoiding all selfishness (cf. Prov 1:7; 1 Jn 4:17-18 and note). “Honour the emperor”: give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s (cf. Mt 22:21 and note).

Prayer:  Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace good will among men.

Tuesday

1 Peter 2:18 You who are slaves must be submissive to your masters, and
shew all respect, not only to those who are kind and considerate,
19 but to those who are hard to please. It does a man credit when he
bears undeserved ill-treatment with the thought of God in his heart.
20 If you do wrong and are punished for it, your patience is nothing
to boast of; it is the patience of the innocent sufferer that wins
21 credit in God’s sight. Indeed, you are engaged to this by the call
of Christ; he suffered for our sakes, and left you his own example;
22 you were to follow in his foosteps.

Prayer:   Blessed by the name of the Lord from henceforth and forever more.

 

Wednesday
Navarre Commentary on Slaves and masters:

The sacred writer now addresses all domestic servants (the Greek word means all who work in household tasks). He exhorts them to obey their masters, even if they are harsh (v. 18), because God is pleased if they put up with unfairness for his sake (vv. 19-20); in doing so they are imitating the example of Jesus (vv. 21-25). St Paul, when addressing slaves in his letters (cf. Eph 5:5-9; Col 3:22-24), never encourages them to rebel. Christian teaching on social issues is not based on class struggle but on fraternal love: love eventually does away with all discrimination, for all men have been created in the image of God and are equal in his sight. This peaceable policy gradually made for the suppression of slavery, and it will also lead to the solution of all social problems (cf. Gaudium et spes, 29).

The fact that St Peter addresses only servants and does not go on to say anything to masters (as St Paul usually does: cf. Eph 6:5-9; Col 3:23ff) has led some commentators to suggest that most of the Christians addressed in this letter must have been people of humble condition.

Prayer:   May the Strength of God guide us. May the Power of God preserve us.
May the Wisdom of God instruct us. May the Hand of God protect us.
May the Way of God direct us. May the Shield of God defend us.
May the Angels of God guard us. – Against the snares of the evil one.
Prayer for the Faithful of St. Patrick Part 1

 

Thursday
Navarre Commentary cont…

This passage is a beautiful hymn to Christ on the cross. Christ’s sufferings, which fulfil the prophecies about the Servant of Yahweh contained in the Book of Isaiah (52:13 – 53:12), have not been in vain, for they have a redemptive value. He has taken our sins upon himself and brought them with him onto the cross, offering himself as an atoning sacrifice. This means that we are free of our sins (“dead to sin”) and can live “to righteousness”, that is, can live for holiness with the help of grace.

The example of the suffering Christ is always a necessary reference point for Christians: however great the trials they experience, they will never be as great or as unjust as those of our Lord.   The messianic prophecy about the Servant of Yahweh includes the image of the scattered flock (cf. Is 53:6), to which Jesus alludes in his allegory of the Good Shepherd (cf. Jn 10:11-16). St Peter, to whom our Lord had given charge of his flock (cf. Jn 21:15-19), would have had a special liking for imagery connected with shepherding.

Prayer:  Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. (3X)

Friday
1 Peter 2:22 He did no wrong, no treachery
23 was found on his lips; he was ill spoken of, and spoke no evil
in return, suffered, and did not threaten vengeance, gave himself
24 up into the hands of injustice. So, on the cross, his own body took
the weight of our sins; we were to become dead to our sins, and
25 live for holiness; it was his wounds that healed you. Till then,
you had been like sheep going astray; now, you have been brought
back to him, your shepherd, who keeps watch over your souls.

Navarre Commentary: Jesus Christ is “the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls” and “the chief Shepherd” (1 Pet 5:4). The etymology of the Greek word—episcopos (guardian)—means “overseer”; the word was used in civic life to designate those who were responsible for seeing that the law was kept.

Prayer:   May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.

 

Saturday
Navarre commentary cont…Whatever might be the origin of the term, in the New Testament the word episcopos (bishop) is often used to mean the pastor of the Church (cf., e.g., Acts 20:28; see the note on 1 Pet 5:1-4). Here St Peter applies to Christ the words the prophet Ezekiel places on the lips of God: “I will seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered” (Ezek 34:12). Our Lord founded the Church as a sheepfold “whose sheep, although watched over by human shepherds, are nevertheless at all times led and brought to pasture by Christ himself, the Good Shepherd and prince of shepherds (cf. Jn 10:11; 1 Pet 5:4), who gave his life for his sheep

Prayer:  O my God I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who art all-good and worthy of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life.
*Act of Contrition