Today, we venerate two great Apostles, St Peter and St Paul, on the day of the solemnity in their memory and honor. This commemoration has its roots in the very foundations of the Early Church. The faith of Peter and Paul is the solid rock on which Jesus’ ministry and Good News continued and upon which the Early Church was built. These two great apostles stand on the foundation of the faith that we follow today. St Peter and St Paul will forever remain the Church’s protectors and guides. The witness of the Church of Rome flows from the witness that they gave. Led by the Holy Spirit, Peter and Paul helped make Rome the capital of Christianity in the ancient world. Rome was sanctified by their martyrdom and the martyrdom of so many other great witness for the faith. The Basilica of St Peter and the Basilica of Paul are two of the four major basilicas in Rome. Those basilicas draw countless pilgrims each year.
There are many lessons we can learn from St Peter and St Paul. They show us that even in the midst of our human frailties and weaknesses, God calls us to serve him and his people. In today’s Gospel, we hear of Peter’s recognition of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, at a time when most everyone else in Ancient Israel still had not figured Jesus out. In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, we hear how Paul’s life is nearing its end, of how Paul sees his life as having been poured out as a sacrificial offering to God, of how he sees himself as having kept the faith now that the race is near its end. However, in addition to admiring Peter and Paul for being men of great faith and sacrifice, we also see in Scripture the times that Peter and Paul fell victim to weaknesses, doubts, and human frailty. On the eve of Christ’s passion, as he was leaving his last supper with his apostles, Peter tells Jesus that he will never have his faith in him shaken. Yet, Peter will deny Jesus three times before the cock crows. Paul, before his conversion, in his zeal to blindly follow Jewish law, oppressed and persecuted Christians, sometime very violently. Paul even stood by and approved of the stoning of Stephen.
Perhaps we can relate to Peter and Paul in this same way in our own journey of faith. There are times when we can be courageous and steadfast in our faith, yet, in our human weaknesses, we also can deny Jesus like Peter did. We can do this in our words and in our actions, in our failure to follow God’s commandments. In our frailties and our pride, we can fail to humble ourselves before the Lord just like Paul before his conversion.
In our commemoration of this great solemnity honoring St Peter and St Paul, let us hear our call to be missionary in spirit, following this missionary spirit of these two great men. Let us hear our call to be true to the Gospel, to be true to the call God has for each one of us.
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