The Restoration of Peter: A Podcast Mini-Series

This Easter, are you eager to run to Jesus? Have you responded to Jesus’ invitation to deepen your relationship with him? Is Christian life growing in and around you?

The Restoration of Peter: A Podcast Mini-Series is a collection of three meditations from Fr. Peter Armenio on the repentance and radical love of St. Peter– from his denial of Christ, to his running to the empty tomb, and to his encounter with the glorious Jesus on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

This special series reminds each one of us that we are also called to run to Our Lord in all things, especially in our life of prayer and piety. So, take time this Easter season to reflect on the Gospel scenes of St. Peter and the Resurrected Christ, and be restored in heart and soul!

POINTS FOR CONSIDERATION

• “It is Peter who speaks: Lord! Do You wash my feet? Jesus answers: You do not understand what I am doing now; you will understand it later. Peter insists: You will never wash my feet. And Jesus explains: If I do not wash your feet, you will have no part with me. Simon Peter surrenders: Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head. Faced by the call to total self-giving, complete and without any hesitation, we often oppose it with false modesty like Peter’s… May we also be men with a heart like the Apostle’s! Peter allows no one to love Jesus more than he does. That love leads us to reply thus: Here I am! Wash me, head, hands and feet! Purify me completely, for I want to give myself to You without holding anything back.” (St. Josemaria Escriva; Furrow, no. 266)
• “The Lord converted Peter, who had denied him three times, without even a reproach, with a look full of Love. —Jesus looks at us with those same eyes, after we have fallen. May we also be able to say to him, as Peter did: “Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you”, and amend our lives.” (Furrow, no. 964)
• “In this adventure of love we should not be depressed by our falls, not even by serious falls, if we go to God in the sacrament of penance contrite and resolved to improve. A Christian is not a neurotic collector of good behavior reports. Jesus Christ our Lord was moved as much by Peter’s repentance after his fall as by John’s innocence and faithfulness. Jesus understands our weakness and draw us to himself on an inclined plane. He wants us to make an effort to climb a little each day. He seeks us out, just as he did the disciples of Emmaus, whom he went out to meet. He sought Thomas, showed himself to him and made him touch with his fingers the open wounds in his hands and side. Jesus Christ is always waiting for us to return to him; he knows our weakness.” (Christ is Passing By, no. 75)

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Book: Simon Peter: Lessons from the First Pope by Fr. Georges Chevrot