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Views from the Choir Loft

Strong with God’s Strength 1

Fr. David Friel · June 29, 2017

UNE 29TH every year is the date on which we celebrate Ss. Peter & Paul. This date has special significance in Philadelphia, as our cathedral (pictured at right) is under the patronage of the saintly pair. Throughout the Church universal, this is such an important solemnity that, even when the 29th of June falls on a Sunday, we still celebrate the Mass in their honor.

Peter and Paul are two of the greatest saints we lay claim to in our heritage. They were also two of the greatest sinners. Peter was supposed to be the “rock” upon which Jesus built His Church. But he is the one who denied Jesus three times during His Passion. With all his impetuosity, Peter turned out to be one of the shakiest “rocks” Christ could have chosen to be the foundation for the Church.

Similarly, Paul had been one of the strongest persecutors of Christianity. In his Letter to the Galatians, he describes his “former way of life”: “I persecuted the Church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy her” (Galatians 1:13). Prior to his conversion, Saul was one of the most influential and horrible opponents the Church has ever faced. So how did Peter & Paul become so central to our Church? How did they become saints?

Paul, himself, gives us the answer in his Second Letter to Timothy. He writes: “The Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the proclamation might be completed” (2 Timothy 4:17). What a consoling thought! This is the secret to becoming a saint: be strong with God’s strength, rather than your own. Our own strength is necessarily limited; the strength of God, however, is limitless.

We do well to remember that every saint (save for the Blessed Mother) is, first and foremost, a sinner. Peter & Paul would have appeared as clearly weak men to anyone who knew them. Peter could only become the rock because Christ had been the cornerstone before him. Paul could only become a great preacher because Jesus was the Word he preached. When they were imprisoned, when Paul was shipwrecked, when Peter hung upon his own cross of crucifixion, the Lord “stood by” them all along.

In the orations for the Vigil Mass of this solemnity, the Prayer over the Offerings beautifully requests the Lord’s assistance “so that the more we doubt our own merits, the more we may rejoice that we are to be saved by Your loving kindness.”

Although they were weak sinners, Peter & Paul, by their lives and by their martyrdom, bring us Good News. The Good News is that—for all of us who are weak—there’s hope. The Lord stands by us, and He can make us saints, too.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Roman Missal Third Edition Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and serves as Director of Liturgy at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    “Music List” • 15th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (13 July 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and propers for this Sunday are also provided at the the feasts website.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    This coming Sunday—13 July 2025—is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). All the chants have been conveniently assembled and posted at the feasts website. The OFFERTORY, Ad Te Levávi, is particularly beautiful.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Music Director Job • $80,000 per year
    Our readers will be interested in this job offering for Music Director at Saint Adalbert’s Basilica, located 40 minutes from where I live. My pastor was recently elevated to this basilica. He is offering $80,000 per year, plus benefits. I’m told Saint Adalbert’s Basilica is utterly gorgeous and contains one of America’s most magnificent pipe organs. It would be fantastic to have a colleague nearby!
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

“Unfortunately, on the one hand a deadly error in judgment placed the official leadership of this committee into the hands of a man who—though generous and brave—was not very knowledgeable: Cardinal Lercaro. He was utterly incapable of resisting the maneuvers of the mealy-mouthed scoundrel that the Neapolitan Vincentian, Bugnini, a man as bereft of culture as he was of basic honesty, soon revealed himself to be.”

— ‘Fr. Louis Bouyer, an important member of the Consilium’

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