Then they seized Jesus and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house. Peter followed at a distance; and when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them. Then a maid, seeing him as he sat in the light and gazing at him, said, "This man was with him." But he denied it, saying, "Woman, I do not know him." And a little later someone else saw him and said, "You also are one of them." But Peter said, "Man, I am not." And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, "Certainly this man was also with him; for he is a Galilean." But Peter said, "Man, I do not know what you are saying." And immediately, while he was still speaking, the cock crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, "Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times." And he went out and wept bitterly. (Luke 22:54-62)
Why then, Peter?
Why there?
What happened to your faith? The servant is enough to crumble your all-too fragmented faith.
What happened to the Rock, to Petrus Barjona, Peter, the Son of Jonah who boldly proclaimed what he received from the Father?
Yet, is it really a surprise or is it to be suspected?
You are not the saviour, Peter
You cannot be everything
You cannot do everything
You cannot be all for all
You are not higher than your brothers
You are as human as they are, with needs and longings, with faults and weaknesses.
Your lesson is clear: Even those closest to Jesus will offend him through sin.
Yet who writes your history?
Is it your mistakes?
Are you defined by what you have done?
Turn your face from the storm again and fix your eyes on the one enthroned above it
Turn again to him for he turned and looked at you
He knows what is in your heart, he knows the deepest secrets of your soul
He knows everything, he knows that you love him
He directs your history
Where sin increased, grace has overflowed
“Not because of who I am, but because of what You’ve done. Not because of what I’ve done but because of who you are.”
“But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail, and you, when at last you have come back to your true self, must strengthen your brethren." (Luke 22:32)
There is faith in you, Peter, although it may be a tiny seed struggling to grow through the thorns
Allow yourself to be tilled and dugged and fertilized for one more year
Abide in him and bear much fruit
The cock pierces the silence of that evening.
It is now your mark.
It will forever remind you of your fear and your frailty.
My fault became for me the price of redemption, through which Christ has come to meet me. I have nothing in my works with which I can glorify myself, I have nothing to boast about and, consequently, I will glory in Christ. I will not glorify myself because I am just, but I will glory because I am redeemed. I will not glorify myself because I am exempt from sins, but I will glory because my sins have been remitted. I will not glorify myself because I have helped or been helped, but because Christ has been my advocate with the Father, because the blood of Christ was poured out for me. For me, Christ tasted death. Guilt is more profitable than innocence. Innocence made me arrogant, guilt has made me humble." (St. Ambrose of
