This week is week 8 of Ordinary Time. For the next few the first reading at weekday Masses is taken from the 1st letter of St Peter. In fact we will read most of it over the coming days.
The letter is written to Christians in northern Asia Minor – now Turkey. Most scripture scholars agree that it was probably written to newly baptised Christians. There references to the sacrament, but also to how they should live their lives. There are also passages that talk about Christians being subject to difficulties and even hostility. These problems are not specified, so don’t appear to be officially endorsed persecution. It would seem that it is the day to day difficulties of being a Christian in a hostile environment. The letter was probably written about 60-65AD, yet is a way it message is still relevant. How do we as Catholics react to hostility and difficulty – what should we say and do? We we could no better than to listen and read the first letter of St Peter.
Fr Paul Harrison' Blog. 