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 Could anything be more opposite than fire and water? Can. It’s fire and ice. It might seem that these opposites cannot be combined: either the fire dissolves the ice, or the water from the ice extinguishes the fire. And yet … look at the consequences that a hailstorm will leave behind. Nothing can resist it: pieces of ice falling from the sky can destroy almost everything, and if something is saved, it is engulfed in flames ignited by lightning. Today we celebrate the feast of the apostles Peter and Paul – people who differed from each other in their social origin, education, and temperament, like fire and ice. Peter, hard as a rock – and Paul, wandering around the world at that time like a wave of fire. And yet God united them for joint action, and God chose them to build the Church. And they finally succeeded thanks to God’s power, which can combine fire and ice into one.

Peter came from Bethsaida, a small village located in Lake Gennesaret. It is difficult to talk about any special education with Peter, and his Galilean origin forced others to treat him a little condescendingly (, it was said: „whether something good can come from Galilee?“). Peter was a simple fisherman from a backwater village of the empire at the time. He was married. The Gospel mentions the healing of his mother-in-law. Paul came from Tarsus – a metropolis with about two hundred thousand inhabitants. He came from the tribe of Benjamin, from which the first king of Israel also came. Paul was born a Roman citizen and was granted specific privileges. He wove carpets, but he was also very educated. He was an ardent follower of Judaism, ready to send all apostates to their deaths. Among these apostates, he also included followers of the emerging Church of Christ, which St. Peter then headed. When one of them was stoned, Stephen, Paul, who was too young to join the stoners officially, guarded their clothes. Paul had never met Jesus before His passion and resurrection. His conversion to faith resulted from a later encounter with the Son of God. The revelation of Christ surrounded by light brought him to his knees, blinded him, and when Paul’s sight returned, his life changed from the ground up. With good news, which he previously considered heresy, he arrived in the farthest corners of the empire at the time. He never started a family – he submitted his whole life to the Gospel.

Peter’s path to Jesus was not spectacular; he accompanied Jesus from the beginning of His teaching. Christ finally liked him significantly: he ordered him to come to him on the water, and when Peter doubted and began to drown, he saved him. He ordered him to pay the tax with a coin, which he miraculously pulled out of the fish muzzle. Peter was in the group of closest disciples who always accompanied Jesus. When Jesus washed his disciples’ feet in the supper room, he began with Peter and seated him by his side during the Last Supper. Peter took up the sword in the Garden of Gethsemane and cut off the ear of his Master’s servant of the high priest, and then went to the high priest’s courtyard, where he managed to penetrate thanks to John’s patronage. Here he experienced something exactly opposite to what Paul would experience in Damascus: Paul the persecutor became a zealous disciple, while Peter, the closest disciple, became a traitor. Fortunately, he was able to cry bitterly.

Jesus looked at him with love, and Peter could already answer Christ’s question sincerely after Jesus’ resurrection: „Lord, You know that I love You“. Some people think these two individuals could not work together in one place, because they differed so much in their personalities. After all, we know that there was a strong exchange of views between them regarding Christians from the Gentiles. But legend has it that they last met in Rome, in prison. There, they were supposed to live together for a specific period, so that, on the same day, but in different places, they would sacrifice their lives for Christ. From St. Peter and St. Paul, we can learn from Paul that the agreement does not write our history of our natures, but by God, who knows how to combine fire and ice to create a force capable of proving unimaginable things.

Feast day: June 26

* January 9, 1902, Barbastro, Spain

† June 26, 1975, Rome

Origin of the name Josemaría: compound of José (Joseph) and María (Mary)

Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer was born on January 9, 1902, in Barbastro, Spain. His parents were José and Dolores. He had five siblings, three of whom died at an early age. His parents gave their children a deep Christian upbringing. His father worked in a textile shop, but in 1915 the business went bankrupt and the family moved to Logroño, where his father found another job. It was in this city, at the age of sixteen, that Josemaría first felt God’s call. In the snow, he saw the barefoot footprints of a monk from the Order of Discalced Carmelites. At that time, he had no idea what God expected of him, but he knew one thing: he wanted to become a priest. When he was eighteen, he entered the seminary, first studying in Logroño and later at the seminary in Zaragoza. At the same time, he studied civil law as an external student at the University of Zaragoza. His father died in 1924. A year later, he was ordained a priest. He served as a priest first in a rural parish and later in Zaragoza.

1927 with the bishop’s permission, he moved to Madrid to complete his doctoral studies in law. The year 1928 is considered the beginning of Opus Dei. Josemaría began to preach the thesis that every person can become a saint. Therefore, while devoting himself to his studies and to the sick and poor, he began to give spiritual exercises to consecrated persons and lay people. During the civil war in Spain in 1936, he had to go into hiding and eventually fled Madrid to southern France, where he remained until the end of the war. 1939 he returned to Madrid, completed his studies, and led countless spiritual exercises. In 1946, he moved to Rome, where he studied at the Lateran. He participated in the Second Vatican Council and closely followed its proceedings. He became a consultant to two Vatican congregations. During his stay, he made several trips to various countries in Europe and overseas. The work he founded gradually spread and gained more and more recognition throughout the world. Josemaría died on June 26, 1975, in Rome. He was beatified in 1992 and canonized in 2002.

After Jesus chose the apostles in Mark’s  Gospel, the sentence is. He chose them to stay with him. If a  Christian is to maintain his identity in this world, he must live with Jesus. In the Gospel of John, we read Jesus’request. I want those whom you have given me to be with me. We know it; if we love someone, we want to be with that person. And we express this wish, for example, by visiting each other. We will show our joy when we meet. It is almost unbelievable that the Son of God wants to be with us. A person lets himself be distracted by various things and forget that he should be with Jesus. We are not supposed to be alone. Jesus didn’t want to be alone either. He called on the apostles in the Garden of Gethsemane: Stay with me and watch with me. But the apostles fell asleep. And Jesus said to them. You couldn’t watch with me for an hour. Many people are not with Jesus, nor do they find it strange. This doesn’t mean we have to hold some worship services. A husband can be connected to his wife even when he is at work. He can talk to other women, but he has only one wife in his heart. Whoever is not with Jesus is not a Christian. The Lord Jesus said that whoever is not with me is against. There is no, nobody’s territory. When we are not with Jesus, we will not experience the joy of being with Jesus. In the past, people began every work with prayer. That is, they did not want to do anything without Jesus. And it was right. What would it be like if the spouses did not make their decisions together, but each on their own? Would there be unity between them? As we are with Jesus, we are filled with inner peace. We are not helpless because we have someone stronger behind us. A well-known Trappist, Troar wrote. We must not leave the God of action for the sake of action for God. Today, the value of labor is much higher than that of being. The essence of the spiritual life is that we are gradually transformed into Jesus, So we can say with St. Paul. I live, but I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The essence of Jesus’s life is to adopt the spirit of Jesus and  act on it. We are to be united with God in love, and this connection is our highest or greatest happiness. It is not important how much we do outwardly, but whether we are united to Jesus. Many have done great things. And it meant nothing to God. It doesn’t matter how fast we go, but to persevere on the road. Not a successful of Peter is a picture of the human effort to act without  God. That doesn’t mean he didn’t know , but he didn’t call a Lord to do it. And there comes a moment in our lives when our strength is no longer enough. Sometimes human failure makes us, that we turn to God. Of course, it would not be right for us to ask God to support us in our vain thoughts, We need to adopt the mindset of Jesus.

God has called man to love and live as a child of God. But many people are not aware of this. Therefore, they do things that God does not call them to do, and they are dissatisfied with themselves. A person tries to fill his emptiness by working or entertaining himself. The actual value of man is what man is in God. But to learn to live this identity of yours, this dignity of yours, it’s not like that. It has to do with the fact that a person has to accept himself. But most of us come across it. How can a person accept himself if others do not accept him? A man doesn’t like himself if others do not love him. We can’t force anyone to take us, to love us here. However, it is essential to know that God accepts and loves us as we are, without distinction. And we can say that a person lives precisely because he is accepted. If God had not accepted him, he would not have lived. You can’t build your birth house. He is born into it. He can’t choose his mother, either. She is given to him. Our Lady has received her identity from God. For her, it didn’t matter what people said or thought. God accepts us not because we have done something. Or because of the way we are. The value of a person is not in what a person does, but because he is. The fact that we are children of God is our most extraordinary dignity. To have no respect for man is to oppose God Himself. Man is great because he came out of the hands of God, and God accepted him. God accepts man as beloved. If a person realizes this, he will solve the most significant problems of his life. Such a person is free from fear and knows how to accept others. If a person accepts God’s acceptance, he can say yes to God and others. At the same time, my weakness and wretchedness bother me.  For my greatness is that I am a child of God. The fact that a person wants to solve everything alone and without God is the cause of his restlessness. Many people want to do it themselves. To get rid of my own and shortcomings. If I can’t do it, I’m very disappointed. Despite failures, I remain a child of God. God bless us and wants us to do good. It’s essential to know.

Name as God’s will …
Dear brothers and sisters, when a child is born, one of the first things his parents should do is give him a name to address him throughout his life. Parents should choose this name and agree on it before the child’s birth. When the child is born, they already give him the name, but there may be a split because they cannot agree. One likes one name, the other likes another, or they want to name the child after their parents, grandparents, and the like. And so it is in today’s Gospel.

During today’s St. John the Baptist feast, we also heard about a conflict. The conflict is about what the child of Zechariah and Elizabeth will be called. According to tradition, a name is given after the child’s father or some relative, but when the child is born, they ask what name they will give him, and Elizabeth says that his name will be John.

We see that society, or those who come and rejoice with Elizabeth, want to name the child after his father, Zechariah. However, we see that Zacharias also approves of the name John. This conflict between parents and society shows us that it does not matter what the child’s name will be. After all, it’s just a name, but behind that name lies something more profound, critical, and symbolic.

Nine months ago, even before John’s conception, an angel appeared to Zechariah in the temple and informed him that his prayer had been answered. A child was born to him, whom he named Johannes. Here, we hear God’s will through the mouth of Archangel Gabriel. However, Zechariah doubted and asked the angel how it would happen when he and his wife were old. Despite the appearance of a supernatural being, the angel standing before God’s face doubted.

We see what bad doubt can bring, not only in faith, but also in seeing and looking itself. Zechariah not only believed in God and worshiped him, but also saw the angel himself. However, doubt brought punishment – Zacharias was speechless. He was silent throughout his wife’s pregnancy. Indeed, silence is very symbolic because it brings thinking and listening. Even though silence may not immediately be a punishment in the sense of something negative, it can come as something positive, so Zechariah deepens his faith. We see the result when he stood against society and fulfilled God’s will. The child’s name was John, as the angel said.

It is an excellent example of the birth of the great prophet John the Baptist and of his parents’ testimony. They had to fight and were not made of roses, but God’s grace came through persistent prayer, faith, and trust, perhaps even through falls and corrections, as we see in today’s story when Zechariah confessed and confirmed God’s will. 

Without Christ, no suffering has meaning. Jesus combined incompatible realities on the first side, love for his father, and on the second side, love for man. It is as if we humans are incapable of loving this world and loving God at the same time. People want to live; they want to enjoy. Man becomes a slave to matter and rejects God. But then again, there are people. Those who are convinced that if I love God, I can’t love this world. But it is possible to love this world in God. God saves man by forgiving and sacrificing himself for man. The human perversity is that man rejects God, rejects his love. Man wants there to be no god. This is an absolute sin. God also forgives, for where sin has multiplied, your grace has multiplied still more.

In the past, when people were guilty. They recognized that they were sinners. They made sacrifices and begged God for forgiveness. Let us remember King David, who wrote in his psalm. I have sinned against you, sinned against you, and done evil in your eyes. But today’s modern man does not recognize sin. And that’s why he doesn’t even ask God for forgiveness. For many people, the fact that Jesus was crucified rose from the dead has no meaning.  They have entirely different values. They do not understand what God is doing. Today’s modern man wants to live without God. No, it’s not that today’s man wants to be against God. Practically, many people live as if God did not exist. People had a dilemma in the past: how much time to devote to work in this world and how much to God. Today, people have problems other than working efficiently to make this world a better place and bring me wealth and joy.

Sometimes, people tear out a sentence from the Gospel and consider it the basis of Jesus’s teaching. It is as if the entire Gospel is only self-denial and the cross. Understanding self-denial and the cross correctly is a matter of understanding them correctly. St. Paul writes, “The mystery of the cross is foolishness for those who are on the road to perdition.” We know that the cross belongs in some way to every person’s life. Either people accept the cross or oppose it. Why did Jesus receive the cross? Jesus says Whoever wants to follow me,let him take up his cross and follow me. Jesus encounters, let’s say, with the cross, then, when to help the sick. When he healed on Saturday, Jesus knew that the leaders of the Jewish people were seeking his life. But that didn’t discourage him. For Christ, the suffering of the cross was, of course, evil, but he accepted it as a necessary evil to save man.

The cross is associated with the Good News. It shows that man is so dear to God’s sake that he sent his only-begotten son to the cross. The cross is a sign of salvation. Jesus goes to meet the cross, knowing it will cost him a lot of strength. But with the knowledge that man’s salvation will be connected with this. For us, the cross is a sign of love that is given completely. Jesus wants to tell us that the root of love is when man does not think of himself at all. One should not forget what it cost God, so that a person can live for all eternity. People are afraid that God will ask them to do something. The cross is a tribute to sin. True Christian sacrifice does not consist in inventing what to give to God, but in allowing God to provide him with a gift. And that a person does not want the gift of salvation is the greatest perversion. One must realize that if one wants to pass on God’s love, it is associated with suffering, but with suffering that has meaning.

The Son of Man must suffer a lot … Dear brothers and sisters! When Jesus asked his disciples who people thought he was, his disciples answered as they usually heard in conversations with people. Some considered him John the Baptist, others Elijah, and others one of the ancient prophets. Thus, the apostles expressed the opinions that other people had about Jesus. We also sometimes express the opinions that other people speak about Christ, the Church, and those who serve us in the Church. But the final question, which was directed from Jesus to the apostles, directly concerned them: „And who do you think I am? Do you adhere to the opinion you hear from other people, or do you have your own opinion? Are you satisfied with what someone is telling you, or are you forming your own opinion, your own opinion that you know, or are you getting to know, and which you are also trying to stand behind with your life?“ When Peter answered this question and called Jesus God’s Messiah, God’s Son, he gave the truest and fullest answer. However, he gave it not based on what people say but on what he experienced and tried with Christ and God. Brothers and sisters, every opinion of ours that is formed and that has a relationship with God, with the Church, with the people who represent the Church to us, be it a bishop, a priest, or the Pope himself, is created from personal experience with Christ. We see that the apostles spent time praying with Jesus. And this prayer was followed by questions and answers. This is a guide on how a person can form opinions correctly. If we catch an opinion that we hear from outside, and it becomes our own opinion, but I don’t have it prayed over inside, we are always in danger of being wrong. What many people like at first glance, or what they talk about, does not always carry the absolute truth. We can come to the truth only when we pray with Christ. The apostles could very easily accept the opinions that people had about Christ. And yet they expressed a completely different, fuller, more profound truth than everyone else. Prayer leads us to know the truth in full. But it also leads us to other values. If a person once recognizes that this is Christ, the Son of God, he is willing to accept everything further related to it in this truth. After Peter’s confession, after learning the whole truth, Jesus made it clear to Peter what would be related to it. He added: „The son of man will suffer a lot, they will imprison him, they will kill him, but on the third day he will rise from the dead.“ What was Jesus bringing closer to him, what was Jesus bringing closer to the Twelve at that moment? He brought them closer to the truth that whoever recognized Christ as his Savior, whoever recognized him as the Messiah, the Son of God, should be willing to accept from God’s hand all that God gives to man in life: moments easy and difficult, pleasant and unpleasant, crosses that push us, or even moments when we are completely helpless, when we no longer know how to deal with ourselves or others, when we are at the very bottom. Jesus continued to say to Peter: „ Only he who loses his life for me will find it.“
Brothers and sisters, when a person finds himself in his helplessness, this is the most fertile time in a person’s life, when God’s life, God’s kingdom, is born in him. While we still seem to have something in reach, what we think we have in our niches can prevent us from accepting what God offers us. We can also protest when we have nothing and can’t do anything anymore. We do not like to identify with such a state and defend ourselves against it as best we can. Furthermore, we are actually resisting what can help us know God in our lives. Did you not become rich in the very moments when you had nothing but trust in God? But we like those moments when we have a lot of wealth in our hands, when we want to be something. And when God takes it from us, or leads us to it, that He wants to take it from us, to let it go, and embrace him, then we can protest a lot.

We see it in the family, in the workplace, anywhere! We immediately stand up for ourselves and protest against what God offers us. How many such protests are at home? Let’s look at children as they begin to grow up. Occasionally, some protest against something: „I don’t have a word here anymore! No one here takes me seriously, “your daughter will tell you. „Why don’t you take me into account, how long will I have to nod to everything?“ – your son will tell you. And finally, he tells you: „ I’ve had enough.“ How many times will the wife, the mother in the family, say: „ I’ve had enough, I won’t be a slave to everyone here!“ Why do you reject your weakness, your impotence, and limitations? Even the husband and father sometimes say that he has had enough. And he has reasons for it. In our weakness, when we show our discontent, we indirectly protest against what God is giving us reasonably to our measure. Have you ever received anything in your life that exceeded the carrying capacity you could handle? God tests us to the extreme, but never so we can no longer bear it. Even in Elijah’s life, we know the moments when he protested against God.

When, after several calls to the nation to return to faith in one God, he saw that these people were soon returning to their gods again, he said in his inner bitterness to the Lord God, „Lord, enough is enough. Better take me in than talk to this nation that doesn’t listen to you anyway.“ Elijah expresses his protest. But God does not take this defiance into account. He leaves Elijah his mission, which he entrusted to him. Ultimately, Elias himself will discover that it can still be managed. It can be endured both with God and with an unyielding nation.

Brothers and sisters, everything that comes into our lives, whether it’s people or different circumstances or situations, is tailor-made. If we can confess that the Son of God is the Messiah and that our following Christ, the Son of God, does not consist only in stating who we consider him to be, but we express throughout our lives, that we are willing to receive from God’s hand everything he gives us, we will never become people who will grumble about everything. Of course, in the heart we can disagree with many things and struggle hard, but the moment we put them before God, before Jesus Christ, a decision is born in us to accept anything from the hand of God.

You may know a legend about a husband who could no longer carry the burden of his wife. He came before St. Peter and complained that he had too heavy a cross. And St. Peter generously says to him: „ Whatever you like, come and see, here are different crosses, you can choose a more appropriate one yourself. But don’t look at the name of that cross that is written on the other side. “ And the husband, when he received this opportunity from Peter, ran between the crosses to choose the better one. At first, he headed for the smallest, but when he caught it, he found that he wouldn’t even move it, since it was heavy, although it was minimal. You said it wasn’t for him. Immediately after that, he went to another cross and caught it, but although it was very light, it was so long that it was impossible to walk with it. Then he liked one adequate cross, but it was very prickly and could not be carried away because of its thorns. And so he passed between all the crosses. One was cold, another square… and no and no to choose. Finally, he liked one and said to himself, „Neither of them is proper for me, but hopefully this one will be the most suitable. “ When he came to Peter with him, he says to him: „Then now read the name of that cross.“ And he read: „Emilie Bačová.” – „It’s my wife!“ – „Well, you see, you chose what is most appropriate for you, what God gave you long ago in his providence. She is your most appropriate cross. But don’t forget that you are an equally appropriate cross for her.”  

Brothers and sisters, these are relationships with people. We could also similarly see relationships with things. They are always adequate for us, tailored to our measure with God’s thread and needle. Let us not resist them, let us generously accept them, and if we can confess: „ You are the Christ, the Son of God,“ then let us admit: „ You are the Christ, the Son of God, in all that we can live daily.“

They ate, and everyone was fed …

The immodest liturgical holiday invites us all to be more aware of the need for physical food and the great need for spiritual food. Just as man needs physical food to live and work, he also needs spiritual food to experience his faith and relationship with God more here on earth and prepare for an eternal encounter with God in eternity. The Gospel introduces us to Jesus, who teaches the multitudes about the kingdom of God and heals the sick. When evening is given to the apostles, who urge him to disperse the multitude, he expresses his demand for the satiation of this multitude of people. „You give them eat“. Subsequently, Jesus performs a miracle of the multiplication of bread and fish. „Everyone ate and was satisfied.“

What a miraculous multiplication of spiritual bread – the Eucharist, we can all always experience during the celebration of every Holy Mass. Where a piece of bread becomes the Eucharist – the body of Jesus, it is bread for us to persevere in walking on the path to Jesus, so that we do not faint on this path and have life. Jesus offers us his body and blood to eat and be full. After all, he calls us to this when he says: „ If you do not eat the body of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you“. Therefore, this challenge of Jesus and an invitation are crucial. After all, who among us does not want to live and enjoy life? After the end of this earthly life, who among us does not want to live in the glorified Church in heaven? For a Christian, these words of Jesus and the invitation to the Eucharist must be precious. When Jesus spoke these words of his to the Jews, they were horrified by them. They asked: „How can this one give us to eat his body…“ They could not understand what Jesus was offering them. We already know today that he provided us with the Eucharist.

Even today, many people do not want to accept this spiritual dimension of Jesus’ body and blood. Even today, many people reject the Eucharist, and even many humiliate it. Yes, our human mind cannot fully understand this great mystery of the Eucharist, but faith and heart help us accept and understand this gift of Jesus. In one well-known song about the Eucharist from the unified Catholic hymnal, we sing: „My sight and taste would like to deceive me, but my hearing teaches me to have firm faith“. These are excellent and concise words, because my eyes in the Eucharist see only a piece of white bread, and when I receive it, I will also feel only the taste of bread, but faith tells me, this is the Lord Jesus who sacrificed himself for us and me.

This is his body and the blood he gives me so I can eat and be satisfied. Can I even understand and accept this fact? Here comes to mind an excerpt from the book Blazing Fire by Wilhelm Hubermann, a German priest and writer, in which he describes the biography of Pope Saint Pius X., when little Joseph longed to receive Jesus in the Eucharist, but he did not yet have the prescribed age. When meeting the bishop, he presented him with his request that he would like to receive the Eucharist. So the bishop asks him whose question he even knows. What is the Eucharist? Joseph’s answer was very apt. He is the living Lord Jesus in the form of bread. And at the same time, he complements his answer as if with a question for the bishop. Do you know more, Mr. Bishop?

Indeed, we also know about the mystery of the Eucharist only that it is Jesus, but we should make a great effort to love Jesus in the Eucharist, and especially to receive him often