Peter said to him in reply,
"Though all may have their faith in you shaken, mine will never be."
Jesus said to him, "Amen, I say to you, this very night before the cock crows, you will deny me three times."
Peter said to him, "Even though I should have to die with you,
I will not deny you."
And all the disciples spoke likewise.
Mirror, mirror on the wall, am I the fairest of them all? the wicked queen asked. Sadly, she was enraged by the magic mirror's response, "“Snow White, O Queen, is the fairest of them all.”
Medieval saints gazed into the Gospel, calling it "the Mirror of Perfection." As women often look for their own imperfections when they look at a mirror, the saints looked for their sins when they studied the Gospel. Unlike the wicked queen, they were not disappointed. They saw their imperfections and they knew God's perfect love for them.
As we enter Holy Week we also gaze into the Mirror of Perfection. The passion narratives were written especially to reveal both the incomprehensible love of God and the unfathomable depths of our sins. We cannot look at God's goodness without discovering our sins, nor should we risk seeing our sins without the compassion of our Father.
Vanity enjoys working both ways. It might look only for one's beauty. Narcissist wants everyone to see how pretty, handsome, smart, clever, wealthy, and powerful they are. Or vanity might perversely focus only on one's shortcomings. But that will be skewed by the same vanity as one boasts of extraordinary and sublime badness -- "I am worse than anyone!"
All four gospels tell us of Saint Peter's duplicity. As our spokesman, he was the first and loudest to declare his undying and relentless loyalty to the Lord, "Though all may have their faith in you shaken, mine will never be."
We can only imagine the other disciples' response upon hearing that. He had betrayed his duty as spokesman and set himself apart from and superior to all of them. His boast is comical even before we know how empty it would prove to be. If he wasn't the most courageous of them all, he may have been the most vain, and apparently eager to prove it.
But he is also clueless; he cannot imagine the depths of his craven cowardice.
Without the Holy Spirit, we cannot penetrate those depths. Competitive divers sometimes go too deep; overestimating their stamina, they lose consciousness and perish before they can return to the surface. The Gospel is compassionate. The Gospel of Holy Week reveals that mystery to us; and forces us into silence but not the silence of death by drowning.
Our Holy Week response to the Mirror of Perfection is silent obedience, like that of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. As he prayed, "Thy will be done," we pray not for words but for the courage to follow the Lord through his trial, torture, and death, We want to hear his declaration,
From now on you will see 'the Son of Man
seated at the right hand of the Power'
and 'coming on the clouds of heaven.'"
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.