The Gospel of Petronilla

I.

I live to be a Temple of chastity and faith, a symbol of divine mystery, and the ultimate sign to melt the most corroded and hardened heart. I know that I must soon be martyred, so I live now to earn my crown in the Heavens. Although my father is famous and known by many names, my own name is not important. I have decreased to the fullest, and am but filthy rags and polluted waste compared to the glory of the One who was crucified for my sake. I no longer live, but it is He who lives through me. The curse that I live with in the spoiled flesh is the price that I willingly must pay for the reward given to me by my Heavenly Father. It is the life that was given to me, and the life that I am forced to choose, and I rejoice in accepting the paradox of willful compulsion that my Lord imposes on my spoiled flesh and glorified spirit.

I am an undefiled maiden, the daughter of the appointed and most blessed apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ. I spend most days lying on a cushion, appearing in my spoiled flesh before many unbelievers to be crippled and helpless. As my father preaches the Divine Gospel of witness and salvation, I lay submissive on that cushion, visible only to those who seek.  This is how I live my witness to those who accept the call of Faith. Though I am weak in my spoiled flesh, I have been blessed with immeasurable strength by the Spirit of God. The power of my father's preaching comes from his gift of the Spirit of Jesus, which he received by fire and the sign of speaking with unknown tongues. Since he was given this power, his words and deeds have gained fame through all of Jerusalem and even through the whole known world! He first proved his favor of God by defeating the powerful incantations of Simon the heretic Magician.  Simon had deceived many converts with false beliefs, claiming that he, he in his treachery, was in fact the very Standing One before God.  My father shattered Simon's false incantation of flight with a prayer to God, and Simon was stoned by those he deceived, elevating my father to his rightful status as the foundation of the body of Christ.  

My father heals the sick with a touch of his sweat stained handkerchief, or even the occultation by his shadow. There are times when such a tumultuous crowd presses against my father in desperate search of a miracle, that he graciously throws a sweat stained cloth to the mob after it is wiped to his brow. The crowds not fortunate enough to gain such favor, fight for just a grazing touch of his cloth so that they may also receive the smallest portion of his immeasurable blessing. The Holy Spirit of God has also given my father the power of discernment. The false believer and the hypocrite are naked and vulnerable before his glaring presence, and can hide nothing before his penetrating eyes. Through discernment and wisdom, he can see the bonds of iniquity, the stain of deceit and the corruption of unbelief and sin. Father's eyes can see all of the spirit dominions, principalities and powers that lie hidden behind this sensual and condemned physical world and our clouded, carnal eyes. The people fear his power of miracles and discernment, but they love him for his miracles, signs and wonders, and fear the power behind his cursing and condemnations. Some hypocrites have dared to blaspheme the holy Name of Jesus by conspiring to lie to the Spirit of the Lord. Father can see these cursed and crawling serpents, and not content to eat the dust of the earth, they have dropped dead before his condemnation and the Sign of the Cross.

My father is blessed with many powers of miracle, discernment and healing.  But the greatest sign which our Lord gives to my father is through the power of his preaching. Many have turned to faith in Jesus Christ because the Spirit of God works through his proclamation of faith and salvation, the power of which blisters the dry wood of carnal pleasure to dust and chaff, only to blow off with the hot wind. I remember the time of my own youth, when father spent his days fishing in the Great Sea. In those days of youth, my ruddy father's hands were rough from working ropes, oars and sails. His language was course, and his manners were rude. My big, simple, lovable father! How I loved him so! He was simple, but he met the responsibilities of working the seas, selling his catch,  and providing his family with grain, fish and wine.  In those days of youth, in the days when father had a name which I no longer remember, father worked for his bread by the sweat of his labor, not yet understanding that the bread he would ultimately win could never be earned with cursed human hands.  After father was privileged to be chosen by our Lord Jesus Christ, he was given a new name - Kephas! Petros! The Rock and Foundation of our new Faith! My simple father was given the keys to the very Heavens by our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus has been glorified by his own passion, death and resurrection, and He is now in the Heavens, beyond the clouds, sitting at the right hand of His Father. Now my own father must fulfill the awesome responsibilities given him by our Lord, and he is to fulfill the work of our Lord here on earth.  My father has the power to loose on earth what his heavenly father can loose in heaven, and the terror of such pure, holy and obscene power as wielded by my father, who once wielded nothing more frightful than a fishing net, leaves me no choice but to live with trust and faith in our divine authorities.