Today's Word
"You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
Matthew 16:18
Today's Reflection
Apollinaris was sent to Ravenna by Saint Peter.
He was beaten, exiled, and eventually killed for his faith.
He never stopped.
The city he served went on to become famous
for the most extraordinary Byzantine mosaics in the world.
Churches that have stood for fifteen hundred years,
their golden ceilings still catching the light,
still depicting the same Christ he preached.
The Church you belong to is part of this chain.
Every bishop, however ordinary, traces a line of hands
back through centuries to the apostles,
who received it from Christ himself.
This is what Catholics mean by apostolic succession.
Not a bureaucratic structure.
A living chain of transmission.
The faith handed on, person to person,
from the Upper Room to today.
You are at the end of that chain.
Someone passed it to you.
Who will you pass it to?
Today's Prayer
Lord, I am grateful for everyone who passed the faith to me.
For parents, grandparents, teachers, priests.
For the ones who kept believing when it was hard.
Help me to receive what they handed on
and to pass it faithfully to whoever comes next.
Amen.
Today's Call
Think of one person who passed the faith to you.
If they are alive, thank them today.
If they are not, pray for them.