12 - Peter Preaches with Power: The First Proclamations

A fisherman without formal training changed the world with his voice—and not because he mastered technique. We dive into Peter’s proclamations in Acts and unpack why his words “cut to the heart.” The story isn’t about polish; it’s about proximity to a living Jesus who rescues, restores, and then sends us to speak with courage. Along the way, we trace Peter’s journey from rash disciple to reliable witness, and we explore what gave his preaching unusual force: personal encounter, honest repentance, and a clear invitation into a concrete way of life.

Together we map Peter’s simple template—the kerygma—and translate it for today. That means testifying to what God has done in our own lives, naming the gap we can’t bridge on our own, and announcing Christ’s death and resurrection as God’s decisive answer. Then comes the invitation: turn toward God, receive baptism, keep Christ’s commandments out of love, and live the sacraments as a living memory that makes Jesus present. We talk about how this looks in daily practice—small public signs of faith, quiet acts of love in inconvenient places, and the courage to let the Holy Spirit lead us beyond comfort so that others can find life.

If you’ve wondered how to share faith without sounding scripted, this conversation offers a path that’s both simple and demanding: speak from encounter, challenge with love, and invite a real response. Hear why testimony beats technique, how to make history come alive as hope, and where to begin this week. If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the conversation.

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Jordan Whiteko, Father Andrew Hamilton, Father Christopher Pujol, Vincent Reilly, Cliff Gorski, John Zylka, Sarah Hartner

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:01):
You're listening to the Catholic Acting podcast.
We discuss the acts that Jesusperformed that stunned his
disciples.
Great to be back, Jordan.

SPEAKER_02 (00:09):
You don't know us by now, you're never gonna know.

SPEAKER_01 (00:12):
I'm Jordan Waco here with Father Hamilton and Father
Poogil.
And we're both stunned.
Why don't we get started?
We'll jump right in with today'stopic is the proclamations of
Peter.
So through the Acts of theApostles, St.
Peter gives many powerfulspeeches to large crowds of
people, you know, starting onPentecost.
Can you set the scene for howthese speeches would have taken

(00:33):
place and why they would be soimpactful?
You know, there's no microphonesor loudspeakers, but he
proclaims the core message.

SPEAKER_00 (00:40):
Well, I think first we have to look at who Peter is.
You know, by trade, he's afisherman.
He's really not educated.
And so to put him in front ofthese crowds had to have been
grace-filled moments on hispart.
Because in his mind, he'sthinking, how can I possibly do

(01:00):
this?
Which goes back to uh Isaiah.
I'm way too young.
I don't have the words, I can'tspeak.
And the Lord gave Isaiah theability to preach and to bring
people to repentance.

SPEAKER_01 (01:12):
Well, if we remember from last season, too, uh,
because I said I related to himthe most, he's always putting
his foot in his mouth.
So now, how is that likestrongly agree that that's who
you are?
Yes.
So how has that changed for himnow?
You know, like it's he's he'snow, as we said, the rock,
right?

SPEAKER_02 (01:28):
Yeah, but he he recognizes that he's the rock
insofar as that his connectionto Christ, right, who is the one
who is the chief cornerstone andthe foundation laid and built
upon, which is the church,entrusted to Peter.
But we can think back to Jesuswalking on water and Peter
getting out, right, to start towalk on water.
And there, what happens?
Peter starts to look ateverything else and all the

(01:49):
anxieties of the world, and heloses focus of the one thing
necessary, which is Jesus, andthen he begins to sink and he
yells out, save me.
But that kind of repentancebrings him back then to the
strength of Christ.
And so that's really the gospelmessage, Jesus' words, repent
and believe in the gospel.
I just want to make mention ofthough, like as Father Chris
said, which is a great insight.

(02:10):
Imagine Peter being a fisherman,he's not an orator.
In the time of Jesus, being anorator and being able to speak
well was a sign of authority andpower, especially.
Because we didn't have all theseother mediums that came to us
through YouTube and televisionand so on and so forth.
So, in many ways, you had to bea good speaker if you wanted to

(02:30):
get your name out there and themessage out there.
And so rhetoric was so importantin the time.

SPEAKER_00 (02:46):
Peter had none of this training.
He had no ability of his ownrather than the grace he
received from Christ.

SPEAKER_02 (02:55):
And seeing Jesus preach himself.

SPEAKER_01 (02:58):
Sarah, can you run and get some marbles for us to
practice that?

SPEAKER_00 (03:02):
I was thinking the same thing.

SPEAKER_01 (03:04):
You were thinking the same thing?
Um, sorry, I was talking to ourstudio audience up there.
Uh so you know, P Peter uh isvery pointed in his speeches.
Acts chapter two, uh, verse 37tells us that the people who
heard Peter speak were cut tothe heart.
Yeah, that to me doesn't soundlike we were talking the the

(03:24):
foot and mouth anymore.
Why?
Why were they cut to the heart?

SPEAKER_02 (03:28):
He spoke from the heart and he spoke about the
things that he had experiencedin Jesus Christ.
It's one thing to just go outand preach a message.
Somebody can write a homily forme, and I could present that
information maybe in aninteresting way.
But if it's not my material, ifit's not coming from my
experience, it doesn't reallycome off authentically.
And so it doesn't cut through toactually change lives.

(03:50):
It's just a nice idea.

SPEAKER_01 (03:51):
Do people write your homilies for you?
Yeah, I actually have FatherChris writes my homies.
Okay, well, that's anotherpriest.
Don't say him like you're gonnaread one of mine if I write it
for you, what that's well,probably with a lot of editing,
yes.

SPEAKER_02 (04:02):
But uh nonetheless, like with that, what we see is
that Peter is really speakingabout not just Jesus as an idea
of a philosophy, but rather he'sreally talking about Jesus in
his incarnation as a livingbeing who's speaking to the
people about the ways in whichthey need to reconcile with God

(04:23):
and then continue to beencouraged and inspired by God.

SPEAKER_00 (04:27):
And you know, this is our first season back since
our late Holy Father PopeFrancis has died in return to
the Lord.
And something that Francis spokeabout so consistently was that
idea of accompanying one anotherand encountering.
And so Peter is that that firstexample of he would go before

(04:49):
the crowds and speak of hisencounters with Christ from the
very earliest days from hecaught when he called him from
the seashore.
I mean, imagine having Petersitting here telling us about
the night him and Jesus weretraveling and sitting around the
fire waiting for dawn, and thewords that Jesus would have

(05:12):
spoken, words that you know weknow that not everything is
accounted for in the scripture.
And so Jesus Peter's preachingwas sharing those deep
encounters with Christ, thingsthat we can't even begin to wrap
our minds around.
And so they're cut to the heart,just like Christ's harp was

(05:32):
opened up for us.
And so I think that's wherePeter's preaching really found
its strength and its itsveracity to go forward.

SPEAKER_02 (05:41):
And this is a nice distinction to I wanted to be a
history professor potentiallybefore I was doing history free
law, so on Indiana Jones.
Yeah, right.
Another shout out to him fromlast season adventure.
But uh I just wanted to be apolitician.
History teachers are eitherexcellent or they're completely
terrible.
And it's very boring, right?
Because you can speak aboutthings that happened in real

(06:04):
time in the past just as a storythat's there.
But if you can make things comealive in a real narrative form
that like it actually happenedin this way with these effects,
these consequences, and thesereactions to it, now you have
history that's living.
And Jesus was alive.
And so this is the way in whichPeter was speaking about that
which he knew and what's soimportant for us to look at

(06:26):
Peter's proclamations, the waythat he spoke, and to say, how
do we continue that today?
Because we have a lot of yearsthat we're separated from that
early church, but how do weactually understand the way in
which that they live things out,the way in which that their
leaders preached and spoke aboutthe living Jesus, rather than
just a Jesus of antiquity orhistory past?

SPEAKER_01 (06:48):
St.
Peter has a pattern in hispreaching, right?
So what is that template thatPeter provides?

SPEAKER_02 (06:54):
He's not an academic preacher.
Okay, so the way that Peter'sreally preaching is he's
preaching from his own lifeexperience of Christ, how Christ
has converted him and broughtforth fruits in his life that
are now shared with others.
In a big word, we would callthat charismatic preaching, the
charygma, the way in which thatthe living Lord has had a real

(07:15):
effect in my own life, andhere's my life.
Look at it and see what God hasdone for me.
And so often we can tend awayfrom that towards just maybe
academic formulas and so on andso forth.
It's important that we have toknow the teachings of the
church.
We have to know God, to loveGod, to serve God.
All of that is true.

(07:35):
But Peter is really talkingabout what he's been in in his
own life, which is a gravesinner who doesn't even trust,
right, at different times wherehe's walking with the living
Lord and yet he still fallsaway.
He tries to tell him not to goto Jerusalem.
And what does Jesus say toPeter?
Get thee behind me, Satan.
That Jesus looks over at Peterafter he denies him, and he just

(07:58):
gives him that glance ofdisappointment, somebody so
close to him that has fallenaway.
But then he gets that sameloving glance and embrace there
on the shores of Galilee afterthe resurrection of Jesus, and
that brings him back into thefold.
And so what Peter is doing inpreaching is he's getting people
to recognize their ownfallenness that they need to be
saved.

(08:19):
That's the beginning of the goodnews of the gospel, which is
we're stuck without God comingdown, incarnating and saving us
by his grace, we can't make itto heaven.
The gates aren't open.
We can't climb that mountainourselves.

SPEAKER_00 (08:32):
The rift between uh humanity and divinity was so
divided by the first sin,original sin, that even though
the Lord through his prophetscontinued to give us ways to
turn toward him, the sacrificesof animals was never enough.
It would only be the sacrificeof Christ that would move us and

(08:55):
open us into God's kingdom.
But Peter, after he gave thispersonal experience, this
testimony, he then challengedother people.
And I think something today thatwe lack is we're afraid to
challenge others.
So it's more important tochallenge others to say, God did

(09:18):
this in my life.
Imagine what he can do in yours,but you have to take that step.

SPEAKER_02 (09:25):
And seeing the great love of God, which is presented,
then in response, what should wedo?
We should love.
And Jesus very clearly at theLast Supper and throughout his
farewell address to his closestdisciples, the apostles, he
says, If you love me, keep mycommandments.
And what does Jesus command themto do?

SPEAKER_00 (09:46):
To come together one another.

SPEAKER_02 (09:48):
To love one another, but to do so in certain ways
that the early church does,which is through the Eucharist,
the things that have been handedon, do this in remembrance of
me, in memory of me.

SPEAKER_00 (09:58):
And it's a living memory, a memory that that calls
Christ present again, thatamnesis.

SPEAKER_02 (10:04):
And earlier that he gave them the church to go out
and do what?
But to baptize in the name ofthe Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit and preach the goodnews of salvation.
And so as they come to arecognition of their own sin by
Peter's preaching, what they'vedone to the Lord by their sin
and the great love that God hasfor them, what's the answer to
that?
To love God back through baptismand then a continued life in the

(10:28):
church, keeping the commandmentsof Jesus morally, and then
living out the sacraments thatare there in the early church.

SPEAKER_01 (10:35):
So what are some of the takeaways?
How how can we hear theproclamation of Karygma today?

SPEAKER_00 (10:40):
I think first and foremost, we we're all on
different journeys, right?
And we're all in differentplaces in our lives,
spiritually, emotionally,professionally.
For a person who doesn't have arelationship with Christ, their
first step is going to be tohear who Jesus is.

(11:05):
It doesn't mean they'reimmediately going to take that
step of conversion.
For Father or I, we still haveto live out lives of conversion
because we're human.
Nothing in us is made perfectexcept in heaven.
And so we have a daily task tofind ways that we need to change
for the better.

(11:26):
So each person has a place andnot everybody is going to be at
the same level.
And that's the beauty ofChristianity because it is a
community and there's room foreverybody.

SPEAKER_02 (11:39):
I think the way that you live out charisma today is
you choose to die for the loveof Christ.
There's a great adage that says,where you die, life will spring
forth.
Think about Jesus on the cross.
His death actually gives life.
It's paradoxical.
This is what happens a lotthrough sacred scripture and
throughout Christianity.

(11:59):
But for me as a priest, whatthat looks like is going to
places that I don't want to andlaying down my life there is an
image of love.

SPEAKER_00 (12:06):
He's not talking about his new assignment.

SPEAKER_02 (12:10):
And then from there springs life, people seeing that
image.
That's the charisma.
That's the conversion of heartthat's continually going on and
the difficult work of thegospel.
And the more that we entrustourselves to God, the Holy
Spirit will prompt us to dothings that are difficult, but
that are life-giving.

SPEAKER_00 (12:30):
And it could be as simple as taking the step to
pray before your meal in arestaurant.
Are you afraid to make the signof the cross in public?
If you are, then you need to askfor the grace to have that
strength to do it because thatis a witness.
That is a type of charactercharismatic response in the

(12:53):
midst of a non-Christian world.
And so, how is it that we showourselves as Christians to
others?
It isn't always a formalteaching or formal homily.
Father and I can preach Sundayafter Sunday to the same crowds
of people.
But look how many more people wereach through this podcast.

(13:16):
I might preach to 300 people ona weekend, and when you hit
publish, we get thousands ofviews and thousands of
listeners.
And so what is it that we arecalled to do to reach others?
It's to preach the good newsthat God has come to earth out
of love for us.

(13:37):
And now we are called to lovehim in return.

SPEAKER_01 (13:40):
Thanks for listening to the Catholic Accent Podcast.

SPEAKER_02 (13:42):
Don't forget to follow, like, and subscribe to
our show.
This is a good quote.
It's often misattributed toFrancis of Assisi.
Saint Francis never said thisthat we know of, at least,
right?
But preach the gospel always anduse words when necessary.