Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles

2025 Jun 29 SUN: PETER AND PAUL, APS S
Vigil: Acts 3: 1-10/ Ps 19: 2-3. 4-5/ Gal 1: 11-20/ Jn 21: 15-19. Day: Acts 12: 1-11/ Ps 34: 2-3.4-5. 6-7. 8-9/ 2 Tm 4: 6-8. 17-18/ Mt 16: 13-19

 

When we think of Peter and Paul, we think of their leadership in the early Church. They did different things. They both found themselves in Rome, we believe somewhere between the years 64 and 67, and they were martyred while Nero was emperor. They had differing personalities and they did different things. And it is instructive for us to consider how they led the earliest believers in Jesus.

We see, of course, from the Acts of the Apostles that Peter spent a good deal of time in Jerusalem and the area surrounding it. And what we hear today from the Acts of the Apostles is the threat of death that he was under there. And in fact that passage from Acts 12 begins with the martyrdom of St. James, the brother of John. He was the first of the apostles to be put to death. And it appeared that Peter himself was going to be part of that deadly process. We read about how he was freed from prison in spite of all those guards and all those locks. The locks and the chains fell away and he felt like he was in a dream. And I think we can apply this to ourselves.

Peter did not have an instruction manual for how to lead the People of God. And I'm sure it has occurred to most, if not all of us, that as we carry out our work, it does end up being a case of on-the-job training. We find out for ourselves how to flourish in our chosen work. And we have to get used to that idea for all the dimensions of our life. There are things we feel called to do that we may not dare to do, but the Holy Spirit is giving us strength, giving us the grace to live authentic lives. And we know that that always comes at some risk to ourselves. But we do find ourselves affirmed as we carry out the commands of love and witness to justice for all people. In Peter's case, he became the first bishop of Rome, that is the first of the Popes. And it was with that leadership role that he was put to death. 

Paul had a different journey. He was far more educated than Peter was. He was zealous in persecuting the first Christians. But he met the risen Jesus on the road. He experienced conversion. And in fact, when we are engaged in on-the-job training, that is what is offered to us. Conversion, by which we know that we belong to God and to the God who became human out of love for us. And that truth has to work on us every day. Paul became, as we call him, the apostle to the nations. And he traveled around the Mediterranean world to various places. He founded churches, Corinth in Greece, for instance. And as we hear his words today, which we believe were written from prison in Rome, he says he has fought the good fight. Now this doesn't necessarily mean aggression in the sense that we think. He has fought the good fight by witnessing to the one who has completely changed his life.

And we seek to do the same thing. In our day, the bishops who have succeeded Peter and Paul are lifting up their voices on behalf of justice, especially for people who are poor and utterly vulnerable in our country. They are lifting up their voices. And this is something that Peter in particular had to learn.

To be a leader is not to say I have all the answers. To be a leader is to say I am carrying out a service for the people. And in fact, I do not have all the answers, but I can give witness to what I know is real, to what I know is necessary to live by. I know that the Redeemer of humanity laid down his life out of love for us. And we must ask ourselves every day, in order to be good leaders: Why has God loved us in this way? It is something that just stops us in our tracks. How is it that the Son of God, who did not need to go anywhere near our misery, how would he embrace our misery? Well, he has done so. He has given his life for us. And in submitting to death and to all that would seem to reduce us, in submitting he has been victorious over death. And we give thanks for this sort of leadership.