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From the Associate…
THE FEAST OF STS. PETER AND PAUL
Peter: a simple-hearted man from a small fishing village in the upcountry of Palestine; hard-working, impetuous, vacillating, bluster-ing, uneducated, warm-hearted.
Paul: a brilliant scholar and Roman citizen from the cosmopolitan city of Tarsus; passionate, zealous, dogmatic, impatient, idealistic.
Peter, had he not been called by Christ, would probably have lived quietly among family and friends, unknown and happy that way, not looking for anything higher than a normal typical life. With his faults and failings, a good man; but surely this is not the stuff of greatness. Paul was made of a different fiber: already as a young man the student and protégé of the greatest rabbinic scholar of his age, he marked himself out from among his peers by his radical zeal for the Law of Moses and his love for his Jewish tradition. This fellow was "going places," no doubt of it.
But God had very different plans for each of these two. As is often the case when he calls, he chose people for important tasks who seemed not to have the gifts or the inclination for them, as if to show that it was his grace alone that would enable them to succeed. So the indecisive and lowly Peter is given the task of leading the whole Church; he is called "Rock," and told that the Church will be founded upon him, upon this seemingly sandy and shifting man. Then Paul, so zealous for the ways of his fathers that he persecuted the early Church, so deeply and ardently Jewish, Paul will go to those outside the Law of Moses, to those he would naturally have scorned, and he will fight a long battle on their behalf for their entrance into the Jewish-Christian Church. Who would have thought, who could have predicted such a future for such a pair of men? Encounter with Christ changes all destinies.
Now after long labors, Peter among the Jews and Paul among the Gentiles, these two unlikely champions of Christ are united in the great city of Rome, preaching and teaching. The Emperor Nero has determined in his egomania to destroy old Rome and rebuild on its ruins a new and glorious city that will be called by his own name. He sets fire to the city and burns most of it down. He then blames it on the Christians, a new and despised sect and a useful scapegoat. To satisfy the anger of the Roman populace he rounds these Christians up and devises torturous deaths for them in his circus. Thousands pay the price for their faith in blood during the persecution. Among them are Peter and Paul.
These two foundation stones of our Church are a great encouragement to us. See what God can do with two such people, see how the Great Artist can sculpt strength and beauty out of such resistant stone. As He did with them, so He continues.
Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.
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