Feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul

Good morning. Probably the largest obstacle to finding true joy and satisfaction in marriage is ourselves. Fact is the reluctance to die to self and to respond openly to what God is calling us to tends to present an obstacle for each of us no matter our vocation. The problem arises when the kingdom of me gets in the way of submitting ourselves to the Kingdom of God. In today’s readings we read where the founders of our church, whose lives we celebrate today, both offer examples of how we all continuously need to be rescued from the fear of death and our reluctance to die to self. Saint Paul proclaims: “The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat and will bring me safe to his heavenly Kingdom.” And we read in the Acts of the Apostles where the Lord sent an angel to rescue Peter from inevitable execution. Most of us never are faced with threats of harm such as those encountered by Saints Peter and Paul, but each one of us is threatened daily by a world that despises suffering and death, a world that does all it can to convince us that it is all about the kingdom of me. We live in a world which suggests that hardship, sacrifice, and suffering must be avoided at every cost. We live in a world that fails to appreciate that the real path to joy and satisfaction lies in dying to self, in placing the needs of our spouse and family above our own. Pope Benedict XVI offers us a clear understanding of this idea of dying to self in the encyclical Deus Caritas Est, “Love is… an ongoing exodus out of the closed inward-looking self towards its liberation through self-giving, and thus towards authentic self-discovery and indeed the discovery of God.” Losing our own life for that of our spouse and family is the key to finding true joy and love in our lives. Each day we are provided the opportunity to discover and experience this true joy and love in the kingdom of we, in our giving of self with our spouse and with our children. Make a great day!

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. What a perfect day to celebrate the Ordination and Installation of the Most Reverend Charles C. Thompson as the Fifth Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Evansville. May Our Lord bless Bishop Thompson as he prepares to shepherd the people of Southwest Indiana, and may Christ Our Cornerstone forever be his guide.