Then Simon Peter answered him

The “coincidences” continue to mount.

On the last day of the Novendiali, the official days of mourning for Pope John Paul II, the preset cycle of readings has brought us to two readings that prominently feature his predecessor: Saint Peter the Apostle.

In today’s Gospel (John 6:60-69), our Lord’s beautiful and magnificent “Bread of Life” discourse has ended in what many would consider failure: nearly everyone walks out on him, murmuring and shaking their heads.

And then there is this poignant moment:

From that time many of his disciples went back,
and walked no more with him.

Then said Jesus unto the twelve,
Will ye also go away?

Then Simon Peter answered him,
Lord, to whom shall we go?
thou hast the words of eternal life.

(Then we have another of Peter’s foundational confessions of faith.)

And we believe and are sure
that thou art that Christ,
the Son of the living God.

Peter here makes this statement on behalf of the Twelve as a body. This can be seen as foreshadowing the uniqueness of the Petrine ministry among the Apostles and even among the successors of the Apostles. For example, a few centuries later, at the Council of Chalcedon, after hearing from Pope Leo (later known as “the Great”), the bishops of the Church exclaimed:

This is the faith of the fathers! This is the faith of the apostles! So we all believe! Thus the orthodox believe! Anathema to him who does not thus believe! Peter has spoken thus through Leo!

But Peter is not just one who speaks. In the first reading (Acts 9:31-42), Peter acts in the name and the power of Christ with miraculous effect: healing the sick and raising the dead.

As we look at the world and even the Church today, we often wish for miracles: to heal all hurts, to right all wrongs, and to bring people to Christ by the multitude.

Yet the example of Peter reminds us that the first and most important thing is our faith. Peter could not have worked those wonders in the first reading if he had not been so strong in his faith as we heard in the Gospel reading.

That is not to say that an apparent lack of a miracle evidences an inadequacy of faith (“I guess I just didn’t believe enough”), but that faith in God and trust in the Lord’s will must always be our focus: first and foremost, above everything, underlying everything, in everything.

As we conclude these official days of mourning and pray for the election of the next successor of Peter, we should consider and follow the example of Peter in our own lives, each according to the way God has called us, opening ourselves ever more to the grace of Christ that we may be ever more attentive to our faith, to the will of God, and to the wonders yet to come.