My friend Robert Hickson just sent me a prayer to Saint Peter composed by the Catholic writer Caryll Houselander. After reading the prayer and scanning some biographical information about the author on the internet, I am intrigued. From the little I read, she was a kind of mystic who bore a huge burden of compassion for the victims of war and for all who suffer. She also happened to chain smoke and use some very colorful, if coarse, language. Her prayer to Saint Peter surely complements the feisty and impetuous character she must have been:
Dear Saint of impulses, pray for me that I may stop cutting off people’s ears.
I loved the prayer so much that I was moved to compose a personal one of my own and send it off to Robert. He suggested I publish it, so I am doing that here.
O Prince of Apostles,who woke up ready to do battle for Christ in the arena of Gethsemane, but was afraid to die with Him in ignominy, help me to keep the sword of my tongue in its scabbard.
I chose to use the word “arena” because the word “agony” in the inspired Greek (agonia) actually means “struggle” (Luke 22:43). It was the same word used to describe the combat of wrestlers in the games of ancient Greece.
Now, here is the Church’s own Prayer to the humble, impetuous and powerful fisherman who was Her first Pope:
O Glorious Saint Peter, who, in return for thy lively and generous faith, thy profound and sincere humility, and thy burning love, wast honored by Jesus Christ with singular privileges, and, in particular, with the leadership of the other Apostles and the primacy of the whole Church, of which thou wast made the foundation stone, do thou obtain for us the grace of a lively faith, that shall not fear to profess itself openly, in its entirety and in all of its manifestations, even to the shedding of blood, if occasion should demand it, and to sacrifice of life itself in preference to surrender. Obtain for us likewise, a sincere loyalty to our holy mother, the Church; grant that we may ever remain most closely and sincerely united to the Roman Pontiff, who is the heir of thy faith and of thy authority, the one, true, visible Head of the Catholic Church, that mystic ark outside of which there is no salvation. Grant, moreover, that we may follow in all humility and meekness her teaching and her counsels, and may be obedient to all her precepts, in order to be able here on earth to enjoy a peace that is sure and undisturbed, and to attain one day in heaven to everlasting happiness. Amen.
V. Pray for us, Saint Peter the Apostle
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let us pray.
O God who hast given unto Thy blessed Apostle Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and the power to bind and to loose: grant that we may be delivered, through the help of his intercession, from the bonds of all our sins: Who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.
(In the old Raccolta (#446) the prayer carried a 500 day indulgence and a plenary one if recited for a month with devotion and with the usual conditions. I do not have the current Raccolta to check, but I doubt the No salvation outside the Church doctrine is still in it. Today the indulgence would be partial.)
