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Others, again, from afar off, are children of bad parents, who have not been taught the practice of their religion; who have had no good example at home shown them: the leakage of the Church, who are swept along in the torrent of godlessness, sinfulness, and riotousness of the wicked world.

Others, again, who have fallen away. Once they were innocent children of God, but neglect and carelessness crept in; they wearied of the restriction of a good life; and at last they left their Father's house, and they were seen no more at Mass or the Sacraments. Many, thank God, have not wandered thus far from God; but how few of us have not fallen away to some degree! How few of us can say that we are as good and earnest as once we were as good as we should be!

The danger of wandering far off, or a little way off, from keeping close to our Lord, and listening to Him, and obeying Him, is this. Whatever the distance may be, it is far enough, and too far, for us to find our way back of ourselves. Many think that they can return to the good life of their early days when they choose, and so put God off. But this is a sad mistake. They cannot of themselves, but only if God in His mercy draws them.

What gratitude should be ours to remember that Christ's mercy and compassion are always seeking to attract us. Patiently and in many most varied ways He is seeking us out and drawing us to Himself. But it is all His merciful doing, and not our own doing. You will say, The prodigal son found his way back to his father, so why cannot I when I make up my mind?

Yes, the prodigal, happily for himself, did return, and was lovingly received by his father. But what prompted him? What gave him the impulse and the resolution "to arise and go to his father"? What sustained him on the long, hungry journey, and enabled him to face the shame of it, to be "a hired. servant" as he expected, where once he was a son? It was the memory, the sweet memory, of his loving, patient father! The poor boy never dreamed that his father, with yearning eyes, was looking for him time after time; he never dreamed of such an affectionate welcome; he only expected to be fed, to be under a roof, to be safe.

When our Blessed Lord was describing that loving father He was portraying Himself. For how many souls from afar off is the Redeemer looking this day! For some He has been waiting for years. The danger is, the longer we are away, the greater chance of forgetting the memory of our Father, of forgetting the compassion of the Sacred Heart of our Lord. If we forget His mercy, where is the power that can draw us back? If we are only beginning to slip away from fervour, let us be afraid; and pray that a loving memory of that compassion may ever live in our hearts.

Realize that kindness of Christ, and we should trust in Him more and more. See what He did, as recorded in the Gospel. He worked a miracle for those who had come from afar off, lest they should faint on the way. They had followed and listened to Him, and in return, in compassion, He worked the miracle. And for us as well, if we only come humbly back, He works the miracle of miracles, and nourishes us with the Bread from heaven, lest we should faint on the journey through life. How sad when our Blessed Lord is thus longing for us, and is prepared to receive us and strengthen us, that so many are kept back from entering again into His holy service, from attendance at Mass, from frequenting Holy Communion, by false shame and through human respect, for fear of what some carping neighbour may say! Oh, may the good God so strengthen us with the memory of His compassion, the confidence in His mercy, that we may arise, determined never to be far from Him again; but rather to cling to Him, cherishing His words, doing His holy Will, faithful to the end!" Short Sermons on the Epistles & Gospels of the Sundays of the Year By Rev. Fr.  Francis Paulinus Hickey OSB 1922 (6th Sunday after Pentecost)

But as the triumphs of these apostles are sufficient to raise up your dejected and sinking spirits, and fill them with hopes; so they ought to be a reproach to you of your great cowardice and general weakness, who are so often tired with ordinary difficulties, afraid of mortifications, impatient in sufferings, dejected with temptations, and so frequently overcome in small assaults. For if you would but seriously again compare your difficulties with theirs, the self-denials required of you, with their perpetual contradictions to sense and nature, in watching, nakedness, thirst, and a total renunciation of whatever the world approves; if you would contrast your sufferings with their persecutions, prisons, chains, and repeated deaths, the very little that you do, with what they did for the love of Jesus; it is to be feared that this consideration would require greater courage to support you from sinking under it than you usually show on other occasions; and that instead of celebrating the glory of these apostles with joy, you would find forcible reasons to spend this day in sighs and tears, bewailing your unworthiness, the contradiction of your life to theirs, and that professing yourself a disciple of the same master, you can scarcely produce anything whereby to make out this title.

This thought seems to invert the order of this solemnity; which being appointed for joy and thanksgiving, is thus put into mourning, and looks with the severity of Ash-Wednesday, or Good Friday. This however we cannot avoid: for though we are all obliged to give thanks for the graces, by which these apostles were raised to that eminent degree of all Christian virtues, and likewise to rejoice in their victories and glory; it must be owned that there is something very mortifying in their festival, and those of all other saints. There is something that casts a damp upon our spirits, and more strongly moves us to penance, than the ashes of the most penitential days. For when we consider the glory which they enjoy, and reflect on the method of their lives, and all those labours, by which they arrived at that unchangeable state; we cannot but condemn ourselves for our great stupidity and neglects, who are not only so unmindful of our God, but so easily diverted from all those exercises, which can be the only means of obtaining a happy eternity. How forcibly does this bring to our mind all our sloth and indevotion, our impatience and vanity, our self-love, and seeking our ease, our solicitude for this world, and all those innumerable sins, by which we have provoked God, condemned His mercies, and been rebellious against His will. And what can follow hence, but lamentation and tears, contrition and resolution of doing penance, to redeem the time that is lost, to make some reparation for past follies and neglect, and lay a foundation of more solid hopes of one day being admitted into the fellowship and glory of the saints?

This, O God of infinite mercy, we desire may be the happy effect of the solemnity observed this day. We beg most earnestly that the virtues of these apostles may be a continual spur to our dull souls; that their rejoicing in chains may cure us of all impatience; that their continual labours may make us detest all sloth; that their sincere love of Jesus may be a perpetual reproach to us of all self-love, and love of the world; that their willingness to suffer for their Master may carry us on through all difficulties with cheerfulness; and that the consideration of their happiness may permit our souls to find no rest but in those things, which may lead us to the participation of the same bliss. Grant us this request, O Jesus, that our souls may be saved.

And for the public, we beseech thee that the spirit of these apostles may descend on all those who succeed in their function, and particularly on that prelate, who sits in the chair of St. Peter, and has the care of the whole flock. Assist all other pastors of thy Church, that being zealous for virtue and truth, they may faithfully discharge every part of their duty. Direct all believers by thy grace, that by the observance of thy law, they may be all living members of thy mystical body. And for all those, who through error or infidelity are out of thy Church, have compassion on them, O Jesus, who didst come to seek the lost sheep. Open their eyes by thy heavenly light, remove all obstinacy and blindness, and lead them into the way of truth; that being united to thee by faith, they may become a part of thy fold, and be qualified to inherit thy promises. And you, O holy apostles, join with us in our prayers; and let that charity of yours, which began this work, be now the happy means of finishing it." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother

Prayer:

O holy apostles, Peter and Paul, I choose you this day and for ever to be my special patrons and advocates; thee, St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, because thou art the Rock, upon which Almighty God hath built His Church; thee, St. Paul, because thou wast forechosen by God as the Vessel of election and the Preacher of truth in the whole world. Obtain for me, I pray you, lively faith, firm hope and burning love; complete detachment from myself, contempt of the world, patience in adversity, humility in prosperity, attention in prayer, purity of heart, a right intention in all my works, diligence in fulfilling the duties of my state of life, constancy in my resolutions, resignation to the will of God and perseverance in the grace of God even unto death; that so, by means of your intercession and your glorious merits, I may be able to overcome the temptations of the world, the flesh and the devil, and may be made worthy to appear before the chief and eternal Shepherd of souls, Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth for endless ages, to enjoy His presence and love Him forever. Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be

V. Thous shalt make them princes over all the earth,
R. They shall be mindful of Thy Name, O Lord.

Let us pray

O God, whose right hand raised up blessed Peter, when he walked upon the water and began to sink, and thrice delivered his fellow-Apostle Paul from the depths of the sea, when he suffered shipwreck: graciously hear us and grant, by the merits of them both, that we also may attain unto everlasting glory: Who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.

"Teach all nations" was the command of Christ, and therefore His Church was endowed with divinely revealed doctrine. And in this regard St. Paul speaks to us with no uncertain voice. "For I give you to understand, brethren, that the Gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For neither did I receive it of man, nor did I learn it but by the revelation of Jesus Christ" (Gal. i. II, 12). Your memory instantly recalls the great truths of religion, with the express testimony of the Apostle regarding them, and how one after the other have been impugned, explained away, or denied, not only by the godless world --the enemy of God—but by those who profess to be Christians, and to believe in the Holy Scriptures.

Take the doctrine of the Resurrection. "For I delivered to you first of all, which I also received, how Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day" (1 Cor. xv. 3, 4). Doubting, denying this is common in these days; and disbelief in it is so condoned that it does not disqualify from the highest positions in the Church in the land! Should not such men remember and fear these words of St. Paul: "If Christ be not risen from the dead, your faith is vain, for you are yet in your sins" (ibid. 17)?

And that sweet and blessed doctrine of our Faiththe divine Presence in the Holy Eucharist. Alas, how often denied and blasphemed by various sects in the face of such evidence as this! "I speak as to wise men; judge ye yourselves what I say. The chalice of benediction which we bless, is it not the communion of the Blood of Christ? And the Bread which we break, is it not the partaking of the Body of the Lord ?" (1 Cor. x. 15, 16).

These words, which you know so well, let them not weary you, but glory in them as the great doctrines of our Faith. We hear on all sides that religion is old-fashioned and out of date. Doctrines must be changed, so as to embrace all the variations of modern thought. And do such people think they are something new, something original ? Be not led away with various and strange doctrines," says St. Paul (Heb. xiii. 9). And St. Peter says (2 Peter iii. 3): "In the last days there shall come deceitful scoffers." Can the eternal truth be out of date? "From eternity to eternity Thou art God . . . for a thousand years in Thy sight are as yesterday which is past" (Ps. lxxxix. 2, 4).

For ourselves how grateful we should be to God for the Faith which He has bestowed upon us--its authority and its doctrines. Let us pray to those glorious Apostles - who typify this authority and doctrine - to strengthen our faith, that we may live up to it, peacefully yet manfully, humble yet glorifying God by our obedient and holy lives." Short Sermons on the Epistles & Gospels of the Sundays of the Year By Rev. Fr.  Francis Paulinus Hickey OSB 1922 (Saint Peter and Paul)