We have been journeying through Ordinary time these past several weeks since the
end of the Easter season, but perhaps you would not have known it, because we
still have not seen the color green at a Sunday mass. We
have celebrated the solemnities of the Most Holy Trinity and the Most Holy Body
and Blood of Christ these last couple of Sundays, and today we have another
celebration that happens to fall on a Sunday this year – the Solemnity of
Saints Peter and Paul – Apostles. We
honor all of the apostles with feast days, but of all the apostles, Peter and
Paul hold a special significance in the development of our faith. As we
reflect on the lives of Peter and Paul today, perhaps there are some lessons we
can learn from them.
The
first thing we can learn from the lives of Peter and Paul is this: even in the
midst of our human frailties and weaknesses, God calls us to serve him and his
people. Certainly, we hear of the great faith of Peter and Paul in today’s
readings. In
today’s Gospel, we are told 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. And we
hear Paul reflect in his second letter to Timothy about how his life is coming
to an end, about how he sees his life as having been poured out as a
sacrificial drink offering to God, about how he sees himself as having kept the
faith now that the race is coming to an 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 their weaknesses, their doubts, and their human frailty. For
example, 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, we know that Peter will
deny Jesus three times before the cock crows. And
Paul, before his conversion on the road to Damascus, in his zeal to blindly
follow Jewish law, oppressed Christians by persecuting them and oppressing them,
sometime very violently. Indeed, Paul
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 the way we live out 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 hubris, we can fail to humble ourselves before the Lord
just like Paul before his conversion.
Secondly, we can see in Peter and Paul individuals with very different
backgrounds, very different ways they respond to their callings from God. Yet, both
Peter and Paul were called to work in ministry together, to build up the
Kingdom of God in the Early Church and to bring converts to the faith. Peter
was called to be a disciple out of his work as a fisherman. He probably did not have much formal
education. Peter, a member of the original group of Apostles, was surrounded by Jewish
followers of Christ as they journeyed with him in his earthly ministry. We
see Peter responding after Christ’s death and resurrection as a leader in the
Early Church, thinking he was serving the interests of the Jewish followers of
Christ in the tensions the were having with both the Gentiles and with the Jews
who chose not to follow the Way of Jesus. In a
lot of ways, Paul was the opposite of Peter. Paul was a thinker, an intellectual, a
well-educated man, a member of the privileged class of Pharisees in Ancient
Israel. Paul
did not know Jesus during J's life here on earth. Paul
felt called to bring the Good News to all, to break down the barriers that were
keeping the Gentiles from joining the Way of Jesus.
Both Peter and Paul could be bold and direct. They
clashed and they argued at times, but they
both became leaders in the Church. Despite
their differences, they both greatly influenced the faith that we practice
today. They
both lived out their faith, and they both courageously died for the faith. Paul, as a Roman citizen, was beheaded. Peter was crucified.
Like
Peter and Paul, we are called to be missionary. We are called to be true to the
Gospel. And we are called to be true to
the calling God has for each one of us.
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