On the feast of Peter and Paul, Pope Francis declares that faith “is never a walk in the park.”
Nobody’s path of faith is ever simple, not even the Apostles Peter and Paul, according to Pope Francis in his Wednesday Angelus homily.
On June 29, he observed, “The journey of faith is not a walk in the park, but rather rigorous, often arduous.
To commemorate the solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, the city of Rome’s patron saints, the pope performed an Angelus during the middle of the week.
He discussed a passage from the Gospel of St. Matthew where Peter tells Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” in his discourse prior to the Marian prayer.
It is a statement of faith that Peter makes, he continued, “not on the basis of his human understanding, but because God the Father inspired it in him.”
Then, when Jesus tells his followers that he will go through suffering, die, and be raised on the third day, Peter rebukes him, saying, “God forbid, Lord! Nothing like that will ever occur to you.
Francis, the pope, recalled that Jesus told Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!
You are an embarrassment to me because you do not think as God does, but as man do!
The pope questioned, “Does not the same thing happen to us?”
We say the Creed again and again with faith, yet when life’s harshest tests come, everything seems to fall apart.
Francis said, “We are prone to protest before the Lord, telling him that it is not right, that there must be better, more direct, less taxing methods.
The Apostle Paul also had his own path, and he too passed through a slow maturation of faith, experiencing times of doubt and uncertainty, the Apostle Peter said, noting that “the Apostle Paul also had his own path, and he too passed through a slow maturation of faith, experiencing moments of uncertainty and doubt.”
No one, not Peter, not Paul, nor any Christian, he remarked, “the journey of faith is never a walk in the park.”
The pope left us with two contemplative questions at the end of his discourse.
Each of us should consider this experience of the holy apostles Peter and Paul before answering the question: “Do I confess my faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God with the realisation that I must always be learning, or do I think that I ‘already have it all figured out’?”
And once more, he added, “do I learn to use challenges and hardships as an opportunity to increase my trust in the Lord, or do I become disheartened and whine about them?
Since Christ actually saves us from every evil and carries us safely to heaven, as Paul says to Timothy.
According to the Vatican, the pope spoke in front of some 15,000 people from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square.
He occasionally rested his right hand on the ledge and put his weight on his right arm during the Angelus and his remarks that followed.
The 85-year-old pope has spent nearly two months using a wheelchair for many of his public appearances due to a right knee problem. He lately used a cane to help him navigate short distances.