This coming Saturday, June 29, we celebrate the Solemnity of Sts. Peter & Paul. It is a solemnity (the highest level of religious feast day) because of how close these first apostles were to the Lord and the martyrdom they suffered for Him.

Of course we know much about Simon Peter, upon whose rock of faith Jesus built His Church (Mt 16:18). Time and again Peter expresses his dedication and faith in Jesus, and time and again says something that gets rebuked by Jesus. Famously Peter, the rock, was so afraid he denied even knowing Jesus (Lk 22:57). Ultimately Peter was restored and commissioned to feed Christ’s sheep and lambs (Jn 21:17). He did so on earth until his martyrdom in Rome in the mid-60’s A.D.

Now that we’ve settled into the heat of the Arizona summer, it’s time for the annual joke that even though it may be 110°, it’s still cooler here than in hell… so get to church!

I know, the joke is corny. But I’d be a lousy pastor if I didn’t regularly remind us all (me included!) that Jesus is very clear about the reality of eternal damnation and His offer of eternal life after this earthly one. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says:

I read somewhere that the “school summer reading list” goes back to the 1890’s, probably as a way to keep kids reading and intellectually stimulated over the summer-break. For those of a certain age you may remember Pizza Hut’s “BOOK IT!” program that earned you pizza for having read a certain number of books. I, for one, am confident that the only reason I read Dicken’s A Tale of Two Cities is because of that delicious incentive…

A little over a century ago there lived in Ireland a little girl named Nellie Organ. The Good Shepherd Sisters who were raising her recognized something special in this child, who spoke of seeing “Holy God.” From the age of 3 she wanted so fervently to receive Holy Communion at Mass. Alas, at the time, 1906, Catholic children were not given First Holy Communion until the minimum age of 12.