Who is broken Peter? Yes he was a disciple, a follower of Jesus, a fisherman, but also a confused and broken man. Fr Stan Fortuna, a Priest of the Order of Franciscan Friars of Renewal in New York speaking at the New Dawn Conference in Walsingham in August 1998 said he's you and me, he's everyman.

One minute he's up the mountain, eyes fixed on Jesus and the next he's falling off, confused and broken. When we have doubts, concerns, difficulties, when we're struggling with a problem we ask the question "WHY?". It's the wrong question! "Why" robs us of our peace, it means we're confused.

Instead ask the question "What does this mean?" Then we open ourselves to God's blessing as He heals us from something for something.

"Personally I think Fr Stan was a sort of light to me by introducing me to Broken Peter. But the mystery of God is not found. But it is lovely".
(John - 8 yrs)

"Fr Stan Fortuna is almost like one of them. He knows how youth today will find it easier to respond to Christianity. Most of the time it is through music and interactive concerts, etc".
(Rachel - 13 yrs)

Broken Peter was a tired, disappointed fisherman who tried all night to make a catch only to come back empty handed. Despite his doubts and weariness, he gave in and obeyed Jesus' advice to go out again into deep water and the nets broke under the weight of the catch.

Later, when asked "who do you say I am", Peter confidently proclaimed Jesus to be the son of God, son of man. Jesus' answer to that was that no man could have given Peter such knowledge; it can only come from the Holy Spirit. And yet when Jesus said he was going to Jerusalem, Peter tried to stop him unable to understand the significance. Jesus identified the source of Peter's confusion - "Get behind me Satan".

It was at Pentecost that Peter changed. The confused Peter who had denied Jesus three times sat in the upper room frightened, shattered, a broken man. When the wind of the Spirit blew over him a new Peter emerged, a confident bold man who answered the question "What does this mean?" with "Let me explain". At that moment Peter forgot what people thought of him, about his previous denials of Jesus, and obeyed. The Spirit of God untangled, unravelled his confusion and gave meaning to his life. Fr Stan says to respond is to obey and obedience leads to understanding but, sadly, we look for understanding before obeying. Jesus said He is the gate for his sheep to follow and go through. Unlike us, sheep are not confused; they don’t listen to the voices within, they don’t follow strangers. In fact they turn the other way. Asking the question “What does this mean?” helps us to face up to our brokenness, change our attitudes, enter through the gate and leaves us free to come in and go out, to pasture and rest. And there are times when we go in and out, up the mountain and come down but as long as we ask the right question we will be able to respond to life’s problems and challenges.