You are a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people: that you may declare his virtues, who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.
(I Peter 2:9)

Saint Peter
First servant of the Church

“Jesus understood the heart of His apostle; He knew its depths, its fidelity and its tenacious devotion. St. Peter’s ardor and enthusiasm were not displeasing to Him. His love of action, and the apostolate was the secret of his soul’s beneficial activity. This is why He put him, without hesitation and without doubting him, at the head of the Apostolic College. […] It was the life of Christ, which was the pulsing force of his own soul, that Peter radiated to those around him: the grandeur, the bounty, the gentleness, the tenderness, the compassion which were Jesus’ own when He was on earth. Peter is truly the Vicar and soul of Christ on earth. And it was indeed the work of the Spirit of God in him that raised him up to the stature of Christ and enabled him to be “Him” wherever he went.”

Father Antonin Ghesquière (1891-1926)
Dominican