Tuesday of Holy Week (2025)

Have you ever made bold promises… and then broken them?

Well, I have definitely been there.

And Saint Peter was definitely there as well.

Look, this Peter—the rock, the leader of the Apostles, the one who said with passion, “Even if all fall away, I never will!”—

And he failed.

Why?

Well we know thatPeter had a huge heart.

He was brave! — but as long as things went according to his plan.

When Jesus was arrested in the garden, Peter pulled out his sword and struck the servant of the high priest.

He thought the Messiah would fight, would call on the army of angels to fight back.

But Jesus didn’t fight. The angelic army didn’t come.

Jesus didn’t resist.

Instead, He did what shocked Peter to his core: Jesus gave Himself up.

And in that moment, Peter’s whole vision shattered.

His courage collapsed. His plan fell apart.

He followed Jesus at a distance, confused and scared.

And when a servant girl pointed at him and said, “This man was with Him,” Peter panicked.

And when asked three times, he denied Jesus three times.

This is a story about us.

We can make beautiful declarations and statements—that we will serve the Lord, that we will even give our lives to Jesus.

But when things don’t go our way, those promises disappear like a soap bubble.

I remember an article by one of the well-known Polish journalists, a member of a Charismatic group.

He shared that during one evening of worship—which was very moving and filled with a sense of God’s presence—he was praying out loud, saying that he gives everything to the Lord, that he surrenders himself completely, and went on and on with such declarations.

Then one of the Pauline Fathers who was present at that prayer meeting, Fr. Augustyn, came up to him and simply shook him with a quiet question:

“What if tomorrow you have to die because of Jesus’ name?” That one question made all his passionate declarations suddenly real.

And Marcin—the journalist—realized the truth:

It’s easy to speak big words in a moment of emotion.

But faithfulness… faithfulness is tested in the fire.

We want to serve the Lord. There’s no doubt.

But the real question is this:

According to whose plan?

God’s… or mine?