Solemnity Of Saints Peter And Paul

Acts 12:1-11
2 Timothy 4:6-8,17-18
Matthew 16:13-19

TWO GREAT LIVING PILLARS

Today the Church celebrates her two great pillars-Sts. Peter -the Vicar of Christ and Paul-the Apostles to the Gentiles. Today, we celebrate two great men of the Church, Saints Peter and Paul. Two ordinary men, one a fisherman and the other a Pharisee and a tentmaker. Two ordinary men who recognized that God had called them to be something special than they thought themselves to be. Two ordinary men who dared to speak the truth that was spoken to them through Christ. They endured suffering through many hardships and trials for their words and actions and yet they kept on believing in the truth that dwelt in their hearts.

The confidence which Christ placed in Peter as the foundation stone of the Church is remarkable when we remember that Peter three times denied his Master. The Son of God well knew into what frail hands He was placing the spiritual destiny of His people. When Jesus called Peter the rock on which he would build His Church, He knew that this rock would very rapidly crumble to dust, unless He, the Rock of Ages, did not underpin it at all times, in every age of the Church until the world ends.

The other foundation stone of the Church whom we celebrate today is Paul, on the human level so different from Peter in every way. Well-educated, pious, and zealous to the point of bigotry, Paul was an equally surprising choice. The risen Lord appeared to this young rabbi, and converted Him from being Saul, one of the most fanatical enemies, into Paul the greatest theologian and the greatest missionary the Church has ever known.

How could ordinary men come to do extraordinary things? In today’s first reading, we see that even in prison Saint Peter did not give up hope in Jesus Christ. He listened and followed the angel out of the prison. The passion that he felt in his heart, about who he had spent three years following and all that he had seen Jesus Christ do for others, must have been a source of his hope and courage. He was open to the possibility that Jesus was the Messiah and confirmed it when Jesus asked him “Who do you say that I am?” Mt 16: 15-16. 

What about the infamous Saul who was known to be passionate about his faith to the point of persecuting the first Christians? Then Jesus caught his attention with a flash of light and a bit of a humbling fall to the ground. A “snap out of it” moment. He would carry the message of Christ to the Gentiles beyond Jerusalem to the end of the world, at that time, the Roman world. Again, his passion came from the truth that dwelt in his heart and he was not afraid to recognize it and act upon it. He was also in prison and did not fear death. He knew that he had completed what Christ had called him to do for the proclamation of the Kingdom. “I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.” 2Tim 4:7

This should be an encouragement for us. Christ can and does turn the most unlikely and mediocre material, sinners and bigots, into instruments that He then generously uses for His purposes and the salvation of all mankind. Peter and Paul have one important thing in common. They are both martyrs. Both laid down their lives for Christ. Both bore witness to the truth of the living God by making the supreme sacrifice. Their love for the Lord led to their death, just as His love for all mankind led inevitably to His death on Calvary.

Fr Joseph Osho