Rightly, my brethren, does the Church apply these words of the Wise Man to the holy apostles, Peter and Paul: “These also were godly men whose virtues have not been forgotten; their wealth remains with their descendants” (Sir 44,10-11). Yes, we might very truly refer to them as godly men since they won mercy for themselves, were full of mercy, and it was in his mercy that God gave them to us. Now see what mercy it was that they won. If you question Paul about it… he will tell you himself: “I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and an arrogant man, but I have been mercifully treated by God” (cf. 1Tm 1,13). Indeed, who doesn’t know about all the dreadful things he did to the Christians in Jerusalem… and even in the whole of Judea?… As for the blessed Peter, I have something different to tell you, but it is something that is all the more sublime as it is unique. For in fact, if Paul sinned he did so unawares since he was without faith; but Peter’s eyes, to the contrary, were wide open at the time of his fall (Mt 26,69f.). Yet “where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more” (Rm 5,20)… If Saint Peter could rise up to such a height of sanctity after so disastrous a fall, who can now despair, however little he, too, desires to forsake his sins? Note what the Gospel says: “He went out and wept bitterly” (v.75)… You have heard what mercy the apostles obtained, and from now on none of you will be crushed by his past sins more than is necessary… If you sinned, didn’t Paul sin even more? If you fell, didn’t Peter fall even deeper than you? Now both of them, by repenting, not only gained salvation but became great saints. They even became ministers of salvation and teachers of holiness. Do the same yourself, my brother, because it is for your sake that Scripture calls them “godly men”.
maronite readings – rosary,team
