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The National Catholic Broadcasting Council presents Let Us Reflect Together 40 Days of Lent Retreat From the Cross to Hope. Day 32, Entering the Passion with Mark. Peter the Rock, learning humility from failure, with Cardinal Thomas Collins.

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In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. Amen. Let's just let our hearts be still. Ask the Lord's forgiveness for those things which are barriers. Let's ask the Lord to help us form a pathway to our hearts. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. Away with all those distractions, those things that clutter up our minds and hearts.

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Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening. Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening.

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And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said to them, You will all fall away. For it is written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee. And Peter said to him, Even though they all fall away, I will not. And Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times. But he said vehemently, if I must die with you, I will not deny you. And they all said the same. Oh my. You know, when we read the Holy Gospel, we make the sign of the cross on our forehead that we may know it, on our lips that we may speak it, on our hearts that we may live it. There's a huge distance between the lips and the heart. A huge distance. May all be joined together to know, to speak it, but to live it. That's like we think of the wonderful prayer said to deacons when they're ordained, when the gospel book is given to them. Receive the gospel of Christ, whose herald you now are. Believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach. And here we see Peter, who is so much unrock-like, more jello than rock. And yet he's kind of so lovable. He's, I think, the most attractive in many ways of the apostles. I don't know whether I the beloved disciple is kind of spectacular, but I don't think the Lord risked entrusting the church to the beloved disciple. He doesn't seem to have ever made a mistake that we know of. The beloved disciple was just sort of perfect. You know those obnoxious people who are perfect. So I don't think the Lord said, You're my best friend, maybe, and I'll, okay, but I'm not going to give the church to you because you wouldn't know what it is like to mess up. And yet, Peter, he's just such a perfect saint for each of us. In a sense, he can be our patron saint for all of us and our, you know, he's he's so enthusiastic. He really loves Jesus. He's jumping out of the boat and running to Jesus, and then he said, Oh my gosh, when he starts sinking down, you know. You know, he just always messes up. And and there he says, Oh, you know, I remember at the last supper, oh no, you don't wash my feet. I will, you know. He says, Sometimes you wonder what our Lord was when he looked at Peter. He said, Oh, Peter, what are you gonna learn? You know, isn't that true for all of us? We all try to love our Lord, but so often we just make a mess of it and we we stumble and fall so many times. And here he said out of his own heart, and he's totally sincere, I will never, never deny you. But it just takes a little puff and away he goes. You know, fear. Later on we'll see in the courchard, you know, and what will I look like? In fear of being associated with Jesus. Fear, popular opinion. What will they think? And so he denies him three times. It doesn't take much. So we should look to Peter and learn from him. Three times he denied him, and then he went through the qualification test for being the vicar of Christ on earth. Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? That's really the heart of it all. Three times he was asked, Do you love me? Three times he had denied him. And finally, you know, the great story, it's not, it's just a legend. But it's probably true. And if it's the old, I suppose to think of the old Italian saying, Se non è vero e ben trovato. If it's not true, it's well founded. And that's the old story that Peter at the end of his life, when he finally got to Rome, and there's a persecution coming, so typical Peter starts running away, and as he's running out the Via Appia, he sees Jesus heading in. Hey, you know, he says, Quovatus Domine, where are you going, Lord? He said, I'm going to be crucified again. So he turned around. And then the probably truthful legend, the truth is he was crucified upside down because he was not worthy to be crucified the way of our Lord. Right at the Vatican Hill, right there. And then they took his body and buried it. And above that rose the great church of St. Peter. And he became the rock, but he wasn't the rock to start. He was so unstable. And he didn't do it on his own, which is probably why Jesus entrusted the church to him. Because he wanted to have someone who knew what it was like to fail. And know that he's not doing it on his own. That's our problem so often, even in doing good things in the church. We want to make sure it goes right. And I think we need to have the humility of the stumbling Peter. We know we have the love for the Lord. We try to be faithful. But to be able to fail so many times that we know it is Jesus who lifts us out of the stormy waters. Is it Jesus who forgives us? It is Jesus who gives us the strength. Because on our own, we know we're just going to deny him. So we need to ask the strength of our Lord and not become narcissists. I think that's the one of the, I'm kind of on a narcissist ego, anti-ego kick right now for various reasons. You know, this kind of aye. There's old Peter. No, no. You got to depend on the Lord. I think all of us, we'd probably be fewer fights in the church that way, too. You know, you get a lot of, you always have people like that. If you ever want to read a religious blog, these all kinds of religious blogs all over the place, then look in the comment section. You have all kinds of Catholics fighting one another. I know the way. No, you don't know the way. You know, you say, wake up, smarten up, everyone. Read this passage. Think of Peter. So let's just think about Peter. And think of the times we've been like him, saying, Oh no, I won't deny you, Lord. Think of our own frailty and the gentle words of the Lord. And ask the Lord to help us be more like Peter the rock than like Peter the jello. As they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said to them, You will all fall away, for it is written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee. And Peter said to him, Even though they all fall away, I will not. I will not. Hmm. And Jesus said to him, Truly, I say to you, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times. But he said vehemently, even if I must die with you, I will not deny you. And they all said the same. So let's pray the Lord for some humility. And ask God's forgiveness for the times we've been pig headed like Peter.

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Join us tomorrow for Day 33, Entering the Passion with Mark. Watch and pray with Cardinal Thomas Collins. For more information, please email us at info at ncbc.ca, visit our website at daily tvmass.com, or call our office toll-free at one eight eight eight-three eight three six two seven seven seven seven seven seven seven.