August 1

St. Peter’s Chains

Preparation. - “Thou hast burst my bonds, O Lord,” said David (Ps. 115. 17). The apostle St. Peter can say the same. God delivered him twice from the weight of his chains, first, at Jerusalem by a signal miracle, and secondly, at Rome, by a glorious death. As fruit of this meditation, we should encourage ourselves to shake off the yoke of our disorderly passions, of our inveterate defects, of our harsh character, so that we may serve God without hindrance of reserve. “Thou hast burst my bonds, O Lord; I will offer Thee a sacrifice of praise.”

I. St. Peter Freed From Prison By A Miracle

Herod had St. Peter imprisoned and secured with two chains to his dungeon, and surrounded by a heavy guard to prevent his escape. The faithful, grieved at this, prayed fervently for his deliverance, and God heard their prayers. The very night preceding the day appointed for his execution, and angel descended into his prison, caused his chains to fall off, and led him out of prison through the powerful iron gates and the watchful guards without being seen or heard.

We are, indeed, astonished at this miracle. But have not we also been favored with a still greater prodigy? We were lost by our sins, were undergoing a shameful captivity under the yoke of the most cruel of tyrants. Enchained by the most perverse vices and propensities, we were liable at any moment to undergo a sentence of eternal death. But when our chains seemed heaviest, the heavens opened, and there was seen, not an angel, but the only-begotten Son of God descending upon earth to set us free. Bursting asunder the bonds of our sins and evil inclination, He freed us therefrom, not by a word, as He could have done, but at the cost of unheard of hardships, sufferings and insults.

What return shall we make Him for so great a benefit? Without being requested, He came to rescue us from hell and to open heaven to us, although He then foresaw our ingratitude. O unexampled charity, O infinite mercy! “Lord,” will I say to Thee with David, “Thou has burst my bonds, I will offer Thee a sacrifice of praise” (Ps. 115. 17). Thou hast preserved me from the eternal torments, and freed me from sin. I consecrate to Thee my body, my soul, my whole life. I accept all the suffering it will please Thee to send me. Dispose of me as Thou wilt. “To Thee will I offer a sacrifice of praise.”

Let us examine, if gratitude is not in us a weak, rare feeling, wholly unworthy of the immense benefits of our divine Redeemer. Let us beseech Jesus to enable us to understand the greatness of the evils from which He has preserved us, and the value of the immense goods which will fall to our lot, if we remain faithful to Him. - O my Redeemer, dilate my heart with gratitude, confidence and love. I unite with the whole Church in offering Thee the praises and blessings of the redeemed souls. “To Thee will I offer a sacrifice of praise.”

II. St. Peter Freed From His Chains At Rome

This day’s feast reminds us of the chains with which the emperor Nero loaded him in the prisons of Rome, and recalls especially the following miracle. The empress Eudoxia, having received from her mother the chains worn by St. Peter at Jerusalem, showed them to the Pope, and the Pope likewise showed her those the Prince of the apostles had worn at Rome. And when these two chains were placed near each other, they were found to have suddenly united into one. Struck by this miracle, Eudoxia caused a beautiful church to be erected in which this remarkable relic would be kept. Such was the origin of the feast of St. Peter’s chains.

Are not the chains of the Prince of the apostles, exclaims St. Augustine, more highly esteemed in the Church than the purest and most precious gold? “St. Peter himself,” says St. John Chrysostom, “considers them as a royal decoration; it adorned him better than pearl necklaces, than purple and silken garments.” He knew that the chain with which he was bound at Rome, would soon procure him the most noble freedom, a blissful immortality. It reminded him, moreover, of the cords with which his divine Master had been bound during His Passion. Being, like Him, crucified, but with his head downward out of humility, he esteemed himself happy in resembling his Saviour, and in going to be re-united to Him by shedding his blood as a martyr. O glorious death, greatly to be envied! It burst the bonds asunder which kept the visible head of the Church far from her invisible Head; it opened heaven to him who had received its keys, in order to introduce therein all the souls faithful to Jesus.

“Christ suffered for us,” says St. Peter, “leaving you an example, that you should follow His steps. Who did no sin, nor was guile found in His mouth. Who, when He was reviled, did not revile; when He suffered, He threatened not; but delivered Himself to him that judged Him unjustly” (1 Pet. 2. 21-23). - Are we not of the number of those who are calm and peaceful, when every thing agrees with their notions, but are worried and impatient when it does not? Let us correct this defect at the thought of our Saviour, who suffered Himself to be bound and led to death for us, without complaint or resistance.

“Christ,” says St. Peter, “in His own self bore our sins in His body upon the tree, that we being dead to sins, should live to justice, by whose stripes you were healed” (Ibid. 5. 24). Such a disinterestedness should induce us to conquer ourselves and our passions, our presumptions and our sensuality, in order to embrace the humility and poverty of Jesus.

O my Redeemer, through the merits of Thy holy Mother and of the Prince of the apostles, grant that these resolutions be truly efficacious: first, I will burst the bonds of my self-will, which prevents me from yielding to the requirements of Thy grace; and secondly, I intend, after Thy example, to accept and endure in silence every contradiction and every evil of this life. “Thou hast burst my bonds, O Lord. To Thee will I offer a sacrifice of praise.”