• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

  • Our Team
  • Catholic Hymnal
  • Jogues Missal
  • Site Map
  • Donate
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

Subscribe to the CCW Mailing List

Fr. David Friel

About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at St. Anselm Parish in Northeast Philly. He is currently a doctoral candidate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America.—(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

Surprising Popularity!

One of our most popular downloads has proven to be the organ accompaniment to “The Monastery Hymnal” (131 pages). This book was compiled, arranged, and edited by Achille P. Bragers, who studied at the Lemmensinstituut (Belgium) about thirty years before that school produced the NOH. Bragers might be considered an example of Belgium “Stile Antico” whereas Flor Peeters and Jules Van Nuffel represented Belgium “Prima Pratica.” You can download the hymnal by Bragers at this link.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • To Capitalize…?

In the Introit for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost, there is a question regarding whether to capitalize the word “christi.” The Vulgata does not, because Psalm 27 is not specifically referring to Our Lord, but rather to God’s “anointed one.” However, Missals tend to capitalize it, such as the official 1962 Missal and also a book from 1777 called Missel de Paris. Something tells me Monsignor Knox would not capitalize it.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • “Sung vs. Spoken”

We have spoken quite a bit about “sung vs. spoken” antiphons. We have also noted that the texts of the Graduale Romanum sometimes don’t match the Missal texts (in the Extraordinary Form) because the Mass Propers are older than Saint Jerome’s Vulgate, and sometimes came from the ITALA versions of Sacred Scripture. On occasion, the Missal itself doesn’t match the Vulgate—cf. the Introit “Esto Mihi.” The Vulgate has: “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in domum refúgii…” but the Missal and Graduale Romanum use “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in locum refúgii…” The 1970s “spoken propers” use the traditional version, as you can see.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“Catholics in America have been the heirs of a sentimental and subjective hymn tradition that, for some reason or other, has taken a deep and fast hold on the fancy of the average person.”

— Fr. Francis Brunner (1953)

Recent Posts

  • (Screenshots) • Proving Holy Saturday Took Place In The Morning
  • “Homily: Second Sunday of Lent” • Father Valentine Young, OFM
  • Part 2 • “Starting Your Own Traditional Latin Mass”
  • Is This Really The Same Church??
  • Solmization from the Inside

Copyright © 2021 Corpus Christi Watershed · Charles Garnier on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.