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Saint Peter’s Basilica

Basilica di San Pietro

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While you are here

Saint Peter’s Basilica, the largest and possibly most significant church in the world, exemplifies one of the greatest stories of God’s forgiveness we find in the Bible. After Jesus was arrested, Peter angrily denied that he even knew Jesus. Yet Jesus forgave Peter, restored their relationship, and made him a shepherd over God’s people.

Whatever the size and scale of the building and artwork around you, God’s love and forgiveness are larger.

Psalm 103:1-5 says, “Let all that I am praise the LORD; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!”

While here, let every sight you see remind you of God’s great love in forgiving your sins.

Digital Experiences

Have you felt lost or unsure of your path?

An experience brought to you by The Chosen
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Reflect on your eternal hope through Saint Peter’s letter to the Exiles

Lectio Divina
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For the one who celebrates redemption at Saint Peter’s

Prayer
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Prayer

Lord God,
who authored the pages of time,
who wove together the fabric of reality
and set the stars in place,
hear my prayer.

Your hands have been at work since the beginning,
when you commanded the morning to appear,
when you bound the seas behind their shores
and coated the skies in color.

What a marvel it is to be called your workmanship,
that we who came from the dust of the earth
are honored with the crown of your love.

Yet, even in the abundance of Eden,
our hearts burned for more.
We traded truth for a lie,
And worshiped the gift instead of the Giver.

And there,
as Adam and Eve turned away in shame,
And now,
as my mind is muddled by rebellion and regret,
You make your mercy known.

For from the Blessed Mary
came your promised Son,
who always has been
and always will be.

Oh, how my soul praises the Lord.
How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!
He shows mercy from generation to generation,
to all who fear him.

I see your mercy on display,
Redeemer of the fallen,
in the stories chiseled
by the faithful craftsmen who came before me.

You invite me to follow you
in your baptism,
laying down my old ways so that I may
live unhindered in the will of the Father.

You pursue me,
yes, even me,
when I stray away into the
briars and thickets of sinfulness.

You welcome me home,
my mighty and merciful Father,
when I finally come to my senses
and offer myself back to you.

You do not look on me with condemnation,
though you have every right.
Instead you receive me with a great jubilee.

You say of me,
“This is my child!
You were dead but are alive again.
You were lost, but now you are found.”

Is this not your story:
That the One through whom all things were made
would breathe life back into our empty lungs?
That we who live in the shame of darkness
would see the light of your love
and make it our home?

Let all that I am praise the Lord,
who pulls me from the clutches of death
and crowns me with love and compassion.

Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!

Amen.