Day 22

A reading from the First Letter of St. Peter

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who have been chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood: May grace and peace be yours in abundance. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:1-9)

RESPONSORY

The price of your redemption was not something of fleeting value like gold or silver, but the costly shedding of the blood of Christ, the lamb without blemish.  

– Through him, in the one Spirit, we can approach the Father.

The blood of Jesus Christ washes away all our sins.  – Through him, in the one Spirit, we can approach the Father.

From the “Commentary on the First Letter of Peter” by St. Bede (+735) 

You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood. This compliment was addressed through Moses in time gone by to God’s ancient people, and now the Apostle Peter rightly addresses it to the Gentiles. For they have come to believe in Christ, who as the cornerstone has associated the Gentiles with the salvation which belonged to Israel. 

He calls them a ‘chosen race’ on account of their faith, to distinguish them from those who rejected the living rock and themselves have been rejected. 

He calls them a ‘royal priesthood’ because they are members of the body of the supreme King and true Priest. As king he grants to his people a kingdom; as High Priest he washes away their sins by the sacrifice of his own blood. He names them a ‘royal priesthood’ as a reminder to hope for an eternal kingdom, and to offer to God without ceasing the sacrifice of a sinless life. 

They are called also ‘a holy nation and God’s own people’, in accordance with the Apostle Paul’s explanation of the teaching of the Prophet: “My righteous one lives by faith; and if he shrinks back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and keep their souls. And in the Acts of the Apostles St Paul says: The Holy Spirit has made you guardians to rule the Church of the Lord which he obtained with his own blood. 

We have become ‘God’s own people’ through the blood of our Redeemer; for in time gone by the people of Israel was redeemed from Egypt by the blood of the lamb. 

Accordingly in the following verse he once more recalls the mystical sense of this event in the Old Testament, and explains that it is to be fulfilled again spiritually by the new people of God in these words: That you may declare his wonderful deeds. The people who were freed by Moses from slavery in Egypt, after the crossing of the Red Sea and the drowning of Pharaoh’s army, sang a hymn of triumph to the Lord; so too, since we have received pardon for our sins in Baptism, we should express due thanks for the heavenly graces we have received. 

For the Egyptians, who oppressed God’s people, and who stand for darkness and suffering, are an apt symbol for the sins which harass us, but which have been destroyed in Baptism. 

The liberation of the children of Israel, and the journey by which they were led to the homeland they had long ago been promised, correspond to the mystery of our redemption through which we make our way to the brightness of our heavenly home, with the grace of Christ as our light and our guide. The light of grace is symbolized by the pillar of cloud and fire which throughout their journey protected them from the darkness of the night, and led them along their secret path to their home in the promised land.