In the Gospels, we become familiar with Peter’s travails and missteps—his impetuous suggestion at the Transfiguration to erect three shelters, one for Jesus, one for Moses, one for Elijah; his lack of faith as he begins to sink while walking toward Christ on the Sea of Galilee; and, above all, his denial in the high priest’s courtyard that he was a disciple of Jesus.
Peter and John’s confrontation following Peter’s healing of a cripple likely occurs in the same venue where Jesus was brought before the Sanhedrin. But Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, is a different man than the one we met earlier in the Gospels. Peter fearlessly challenges the leaders as they complain about a “good deed done to a cripple.” Peter responds that all was done in the name of Jesus Christ, now raised from the dead. Jesus, the rejected stone, has become the cornerstone.
How can I be more like Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit and fearless in proclaiming and living my faith in the name of Jesus Christ?
―George Penman Sullivan, Jr. is a Jesuit-educated lay leader who helped found Chicago’s Ignatian Volunteer Corps. He and his wife, Dorothy, live in Wilmette IL, and have four children and three grandchildren.