Petra: Name Day and Patron Saint

St Peter was born Simon, the son of Jonah and the brother of St Andrew the First-called. He was a fisherman of Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee, a married man whose mother-in-law Christ healed in his house. The Lord gave him the name Cephas, or Peter, the rock, and with James and John he witnessed the Saviour’s greatest miracles. He was the first of the disciples to confess clearly, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Yet on the night of Christ’s trial he denied Him three times, and a single look from the Lord filled him with shame and bitter repentance. After the Resurrection Christ asked him three times, “Lovest thou Me?” and told him, “Feed My sheep,” so restoring him with a threefold confession of love. After the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost, Peter became a fearless preacher: his first sermon in Jerusalem brought about three thousand souls to baptism. He healed the sick, raised the dead, baptized Cornelius, the first Gentile convert, and was freed from prison by an angel. He preached in Palestine, Asia Minor and Italy, and wrote two Epistles. Condemned under Nero in Rome, he asked to be crucified upside down, judging himself unworthy to die as his Lord had died. The Church keeps his feast together with St Paul on 29 June (12 July on the Old Calendar). The faithful turn to St Peter as the image of repentance after a fall and of love restored, and ask his prayers for a firm faith.

What the faithful pray for

• true repentance after a fall
• a firm and fearless confession of faith in Christ
• courage in times of weakness and fear
• the shepherds and the flock of the Church
• love for Christ that does not fail