Sunday 29 June 2025
Our Lady Immaculate
My Universalis routine has changed lately. Rather than listening to the podcast in the car, I listen while tending vegetables in the garden. I’ve deliberately made that sound more idyllic than it is. It would be more accurate to say I stare at the tomatoes wondering exactly what I’m supposed to do with them. And whether that thing I just snipped off was vital for their survival.
I always enjoy Universalis, but this week’s edition especially had me skipping back to listen again. Particularly the description of Peter.
Aside from his rash side, of sinking when trying to walk on water, and denying Jesus, and so on, the host Martin Kochanski described him as “simple of heart” and “a person not a performance”. He was not one of those people with “one eye on themselves and one eye on you to see if you are liking it.”
As Kochanski put it, “if you see it in people today you want to spend time with them”.
It occurred to me that I have several friends who fit this latter description. They are exactly as they appear to be. But I might be closer to the earlier part.
I am performing much of the time. I often can’t help but have one eye on myself and one eye on the other waiting for their reaction or approval.
Are acts of kindness or charity natural, or a performance? I find I tend to feel most genuine and authentic when I am cross about something, disappointed, or lazy.
Much of the description of Peter resonates with me. I’d like those qualities that Kochanski identifies. Those which made Peter the ideal apostle on which to build the church.
“There was something all right with Peter”.
But when I’m honest with myself, I see I am often the rash, impulsive part of him. I mean well but don’t always think things through. I am Peter’s flaws, not his qualities.
But perhaps that’s okay. Perhaps the greater point is something more hopeful. To have the bad does not rule out the good.
I don’t assume to compare myself with someone like Saint Peter. But he serves as a perfect example. We’re not all made to be the rock on which to build the church, but we can be rocks for our families, communities, and parishes. A person with rock beneath their feet, not sand. Someone people would want to know and spend time with.