Sunday
\nBook of First Peter using the Ronald Knox translation, Catholic Navarre commentary<\/p>\n
1 Peter 1: PETER, An APOSTLE of Jesus Christ, to the elect who dwell as foreigners
\nup and down Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and
\n2 Bithynia, chosen in the foreknowledge of God the Father, to be
\nsanctified by the Spirit, to give their allegiance to Jesus Christ and
\nbe sprinkled with his blood; grace and peace be yours abundantly.
\n3 Blessed be that God, that Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in
\nhis great mercy has begotten us anew, making hope live in us
\n4 through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.<\/p>\n
Navarre:\u00a0\u00a0The “Dispersion” originally referred to Jews who were resident outside Palestine, but here the term is given a deeper meaning: St Peter addresses those who are “exiles in the Dispersion”, that is, Christians, who are living on this earth like wayfarers journeying towards their lasting homeland, heaven.<\/p>\n
Verse 2 explains the sublime choice that has been made of Christians: by an eternal design of God they have been chosen from all eternity (cf. Rom 8:28-30; Eph 1:4-6) and sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Their election has a double purpose\u2014to obey Jesus Christ by faith and good works, and to enable them to he “sprinkled with his blood”, that is, take a full share of the fruits of Redemption…<\/p>\n
The grace and peace he wishes his readers is a type of Christian greeting, often used by St Paul (cf. note on Rom 1:7; also 2 Pet 1:2): it expresses a wish for God’s blessing (which comes in the form of sanctifying grace and the gifts of the Holy Spirit) and inner peace, the effect of the reconciliation with God which Jesus has brought about.<\/span><\/p>\n Prayer:\u00a0 We fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin. Amen. Monday Prayer:\u00a0 O Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, Who art everywhere present and fillest all things, Treasury of good things and Giver of life: Come and dwell in us, and cleanse us of all impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.<\/p>\n Tuesday This passage, a hymn of praise and gratitude to God, developing what is proclaimed in v. 2, is more explicit about the action of each person of the Blessed Trinity: by making his choice of Christians, God the Father has destined us to a marvellous heritage in heaven (vv. 3-5); to attain this we need to love and believe in Jesus Christ our Lord (vv. 6-9); the Holy Spirit, who earlier proclaimed salvation by the mouth of the Old Testament prophets, is now, through those who preach the Gospel, announcing that salvation has arrived (vv. 10-12).<\/p>\n Through this being born again, God destines us “to a living hope”, which centres on the inheritance of heaven, here described as “imperishable” (it is eternal), “undefiled” (it contains no evil) and “unfading” (it will never grow old). The sacred writer uses these adjectives of negation to show that heavenly things are not subject to any of the imperfections and defects of earthly things.<\/p>\n For those Christians who stay true to their calling, this inheritance is “kept in heaven”. This key theme will be addressed in various parts of the letter (cf. 2:18-25; 3:13-17; 4:12-19; 5:5-11); the letter is very much aimed at encouraging the faithful to bear sufferings with joy, knowing that they are a means to and a guarantee of heaven.<\/p>\n Prayer:\u00a0 Holy angel of the Lord by guardian, pray to God for me.<\/p>\n Wednesday Hope of obtaining the inheritance of heaven gives Christians joy in the midst of trials which test their faith. At the centre of that faith is Jesus, whom they strive to love above all, thereby attaining “unutterable and exalted joy”, a foretaste of the joy of heaven itself.<\/p>\n St Peter says that it is good to suffer trials because eternal joys cannot be obtained except through the afflictions and sorrows of this passing world. ‘For a little while’, he says, however, because when one receives an eternal reward, the afflictions of this world\u2014which appeared so heavy and bitter\u2014seem then to have been very short-lived and slight” (Super 1 Pet. expositio, ad loc.).<\/span><\/p>\n Christian joy is the fruit of faith, hope and love. “You should realize that God wants us to be happy and that, if you do all you can, you will be happy, very, very happy, although you will never be a moment without the Cross. But that Cross is no longer a gallows. It is the throne from which Christ reigns” (J. Escriv\u00e1, Friends of God, 141).<\/span><\/p>\n Prayer:\u00a0 Our Father, Who art in \u00a0Heaven, hallowed by Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.<\/p>\n Thursday These verses of thanksgiving (vv. 3-12) end with a reference to the role of the Holy Spirit in salvation: he acted in the Old Testament through the prophets by announcing salvation, and now, through preachers of the Gospel, he reveals that it has come about.<\/span><\/p>\n The passage is a clear acknowledgment of the unity and continuity of the Old and New Testaments: in the Old the sufferings and subsequent glorification of Christ are proclaimed, in such a way that “what the prophets predicted as future events,” says St Thomas, “the Apostles preached as something which had come true” (Commentary on Eph 2:4). “The economy of the Old Testament was deliberately orientated to prepare for and declare in prophecy the coming of Christ, Redeemer of all men, and of the messianic Kingdom (cf. Lk 24:44; Jn 5:39; 1 Pet 1:10) [. . .]. God, the inspirer and author of the books of both Testaments, in his wisdom has so brought it about that the New should be hidden in the Old and that the Old should be made manifest in the New. For although Christ founded the New Covenant in his blood (cf. Lk 22:20; 1 Cor 11:25), still the books of the Old Testament, all of them caught up into the Gospel message, attain and show forth their full meaning in the New Testament (cf. Mt 5:17; Lk 24:27; Rom 16:25-26; 2 Cor 3:14-16) and in their turn, shed light on it and explain it” (Vatican II, Dei Verbum, 15-16).<\/span><\/p>\n These verses show the Holy Spirit’s role as cause and guide of the evangelizing activity of the Church. In the early days of the spread of Christianity, as described in Acts, the action of the third Person of the Blessed Trinity was palpable.<\/span><\/p>\n Prayer:\u00a0 O Most Holy Trinity, have mercy on us. O Lord, blot out our sins. O Master, pardon our iniquities. O Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities for Thy name’s sake.<\/p>\n Friday Prayer:\u00a0 Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. (3X)<\/p>\n Saturday<\/p>\n Navarre Commentary:<\/p>\n Having focused their attention on the sublimity of the Christian calling, St Peter exhorts the faithful to a holiness in keeping with it. He provides some reasons why they should strive for holiness\u2014the holiness of God (vv. 13-16) and the price paid for their salvation, the blood of Christ (vv. 17-21). He then goes on directly to refer to the importance of love (vv. 22-25); and he encourages them to grow up in their new life (2:1-3) so that as “living stones” they can form part of the spiritual building of the Church, which has Christ as its cornerstone (vv. 4-10).<\/p>\n Israel was chosen by God from all the peoples of the earth to implement his plan of salvation: he set the people of Israel free from the slavery of Egypt, established a covenant with them and gave them commandments about how to live. These commandments in their highest form tell them to be holy as God is holy (cf. Lev 19:2). However, those events in the life of Israel were only an imperfect foreshadowing of what would happen when Jesus Christ came: Christians constitute the new chosen people; by Baptism they have been set free from sin and have been called to live in a fully holy way, with God himself as their model.<\/p>\n “Christ bids all without exception to be perfect as his heavenly Father is perfect. For the vast majority of people, holiness means sanctifying their work, sanctifying themselves in it, and sanctifying others through it\u2014thereby finding God as they go about their daily lives […]. Since the foundation of the Work in 1928, my teaching has been that sanctity is not the reserve of a privileged few; all the ways of the earth, every state in life, every job, every honest occupation, can be divine” (St Josemar\u00eda Escriv\u00e1 de Balaguer, III, 3).<\/p>\n Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. \u00a0Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sunday Book of First Peter using the Ronald Knox translation, Catholic Navarre commentary 1 Peter 1: PETER, An APOSTLE of Jesus Christ, to the elect who dwell as foreigners up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-orthodox-daily-devotional","has_no_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14364"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14365,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14364\/revisions\/14365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n*Sub Tuum Praesidium<\/p>\n
\n1 Peter 1:3\u00a0We are
\nto share an inheritance that is incorruptible, inviolable, unfading.
\n5 It is stored up for you in heaven, and meanwhile, through your
\nfaith, the power of God affords you safe conduct till you reach it,
\nthis salvation which is waiting to be disclosed at the end of time.
\n6 Then you will be triumphant. What if you have trials of many
\nsorts to sadden your hearts in this brief interval ? That must needs
\n7 happen, so that you may give proof of your faith, a much more
\nprecious thing than the gold we test by fire; proof which will bring
\nyou praise, and glory, and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.
\n8 You never saw him, but you learned to love him; you may not see
\nhim even now, but you believe in him; and, if you continue to
\nbelieve in him, how you will triumph! How ineffable your joy will
\n9 be, and how sublime, when you reap the fruit of that faith of
\n10 yours, the salvation of your souls! Salvation was the aim and
\nquest of the prophets, and the grace of which they prophesied has
\n11 been reserved for you. The Spirit of Christ was in them, making
\nknown to them the sufferings which Christ’s cause brings with it,
\nword of the Lord lasts for ever. And this word is nothing other
\nthan the gospel which has been preached to you.<\/p>\n
\nNavarre on 1 Peter 3-12<\/p>\n
\nNavarre on 1 Peter 3-12 cont.<\/p>\n
\nNavarre on 1 Peter 3-12 cont.<\/p>\n
\n1 Peter 1:12\u00a0It was revealed to them that their
\nerrand was not to their own age, it was to you. And now the angels
\ncan satisfy their eager gaze; the Holy Spirit has been sent from
\nheaven, and your evangelists have made the whole mystery plain,
\nto you.
\n13 Rid your minds, then, of every encumbrance, keep full mastery
\nof your senses, and set your hopes on the gracious gift that is offered
\n14 you when Jesus Christ appears. Obedience should be native to you
\nnow; you must not retain the mould of your former untutored
\n15 appetites. No, it is a holy God who has called you, and you too
\n16 must be holy in all the ordering of your lives; You must be holy,
\n17 the scripture says, because I am holy. You appeal to God as your
\nFather; yes, but he judges each man impartially by what he has
\ndone; look anxiously, then, to the ordering of your lives while your
\n18 stay on earth lasts. What was the ransom that freed you from the
\nvain observances of ancestral tradition? You know well enough
\n19 that it was not paid in earthly currency, silver or gold; it was paid
\nin the precious blood of Christ; no lamb was ever so pure, so spot-
\nless a victim.<\/p>\n