Daily Mass Readings For Saturday, February 22, 2025
Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, Apostle
Reading 1 :
1 Peter 5:1-4
Verse Before the Gospel :
Matthew 16:18
Gospel :
Matthew 16:13-19
Liturgical vestments: White
Feast
Saturday, February 22, 2025: Readings & Responsorial Psalm & Gospel
Each day, the Mass readings invite us into a deeper encounter with God. Through Scripture, we hear His voice speaking to our hearts, guiding us, comforting us, and calling us to a life of holiness. The Word of God is not just a story from the past; it is alive, relevant, and transformative.
Every reading is an opportunity for grace. Some days, the words challenge us to grow; other days, they console us in our struggles. But always, they nourish our souls, strengthening our faith and drawing us closer to Christ.
Let us open our hearts to the Word of God daily. May we not just hear it but live it, allowing it to shape our actions and deepen our love for Him. Lord, speak to us today, and help us to follow You more faithfully. Amen.
Beloved:
I exhort the presbyters among you,
as a fellow presbyter and witness to the sufferings of Christ
and one who has a share in the glory to be revealed.
Tend the flock of God in your midst,
overseeing not by constraint but willingly,
as God would have it, not for shameful profit but eagerly.
Do not lord it over those assigned to you,
but be examples to the flock.
And when the chief Shepherd is revealed,
you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
Verse Before the Gospel
Matthew 16:18
You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church;
the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi
he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter said in reply,
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Reflection
“We are with the Pope, because being with him, one is with God” (Saint Thomas More)
“Peter, for all time, must be the custodian of communion with Christ. Peter's responsibility is to guarantee communion with Christ with the charity of Christ, leading to the realization of this charity in daily life.” (Benedict XVI)
“When St. Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus declared to him that this revelation did not come "from flesh and blood", but from ‘my Father who is in heaven’ (Mt 16:17). Faith is a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused by Him (…)” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 153)
Throughout the centuries, the world has defined Jesus in different ways: a great prophet of justice and love; a wise teacher of life; a revolutionary; a dreamer of God’s dreams ... and so on. Many beautiful things. In the confusion of these and other hypotheses, still today, a simple and clear one stands out, the confession of Simon, called Peter, a humble man full of faith: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v.16). Jesus is the Son of God: hence he is perennially alive as his Father is eternally alive. This is the novelty that grace ignites in the heart of those who are open to the mystery of Jesus: the non-mathematical — but even stronger, inner — certainty of having encountered the Wellspring of Life, Life itself made flesh, visible and tangible in our midst. This is the experience of Christians, and it is not their merit, not that of we Christians; it is not our merit, but comes from God; it is a grace of God, the Father and Son and Holy Spirit. All this is contained in the seed of Peter’s response: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”.
Then, Jesus’ response is full of light: “you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it” (v. 18). It is the first time that Jesus says the word “Church”: and he does so expressing all his love for her, which he defines as “my Church”. It is the new community of the Covenant, no longer based on lineage and on the Law, but on faith in him, Jesus, the Face of God. (Angelus, 29 June 2018)