Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles, Mt 16,13-19

Dear parishioners, We contemplate the holy images and statues placed in churches. In many parishes, on the altar in the presbytery, we see the Apostles standing: Saints Peter and Paul. St. Peter holds the keys in his hands, and St. Paul a sword. Large monuments of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul stand on the facade of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. Today we commemorate their martyrdom. Some apocryphal books state that both died on the same day, June 29, 67, by order of the cruel emperor Nero. St. Peter was crucified upside down in the Vatican Gardens, and St. Paul was beheaded with a sword behind the Ostia Gate. St. Peter was led to his death during the time of Herod Agrippa I. This king wanted to please the Jews and began the persecution of Christians in Jerusalem. He preached the beheading of St. James the Elder, the apostle, and then captured Peter and imprisoned him. He wanted to hand him over to the people after the Passover feast. In the meantime, the chained Peter was guarded by four mercenaries from each squad. 

However, the prayer constantly recited by Christians at that time proved stronger than the chains. It did not help that Peter was sleeping between two soldiers and that the guards at the gate were guarding the prison. An Angel of the Lord came and struck him on the side, waking Peter up. He also said to him, “Get up quickly!” The chains fell from Peter’s hands. The angel ordered him to gird himself, put on sandals, and put on his cloak. He led Peter out of prison and only then left him when they had passed through the iron gate and one street together. Certainly, St. Peter remained faithful and therefore still stands guard over Christ’s sheepfold with the keys in his hands. He stands faithfully still in his successors. However, from the very meeting with Peter, Jesus placed the Apostle in a strong position. He changed his name. He called him a rock. Later, in the vicinity of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus explains to Peter what the change of name meant: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Peter was given the greatest power in the Church.  

The second most significant patron of the Church is St. Paul the Apostle. He was also placed high in the Church by Jesus himself. The risen Christ blocked the way for Saul of Tarsus when he was filled with hatred against the confessors of Christ and went to Damascus to imprison and kill them. At the gates of that city, Christ appeared to him, struck him with light, and by His grace caused him to convert. Saul rose from the ground and was led by his companions to the priest Ananias, where he was baptized. Paul was called to be the apostle to the Gentiles and a remarkable teacher of humanity. He was to work very diligently and suffer a lot for Christ and bring to Him, at the cost of proclaiming the word of God and a great sacrifice, crowds of Gentiles. “But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me so that through me the proclamation of the Gospel might be fully accomplished and all the nations might hear it,” wrote St. Paul in his Second Letter to his dearest Timothy.

Brothers and sisters, we are called to listen! We would all like to believe similarly. The Holy Apostles have much to tell us in times of instability and betrayal, as we consider them. “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God” – confessed St. Peter when the Lord Jesus asked his disciples who people considered Him to be. It was an act of true faith that Peter dared to do, thanks to the grace given to him from above, by God the Father. St. Paul also believed completely in Christ. “I know whom I have believed” – he said about himself. This gave him confidence in the face of the brutality of life, which often appeared to him, even before death. Let us therefore stand resolutely with Christ, as they did. Peter was a rock, but when he once forgot his fear of Jesus and denied Him, and confirmed his denial with an oath, he had to erase his guilt with bitter tears. 

Paul, despite his great constancy and heroism of love, still felt like a weak man and therefore strengthened himself in the conviction that if he could do everything good, then only in the One who strengthens Him, in Jesus Christ. Our constancy in faith is the fruit of constant prayer to Christ for the grace of constancy and perseverance. Today’s world is treacherous. Betrayal of God, betrayal of homeland, betrayal of ideals, betrayal of faith, betrayal of the Church, marital betrayal, betrayal of a friend, betrayal of one’s own identity, and constant betrayal. We need fidelity very much today. We want to learn it from the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and we also want to remain faithful to them ourselves, at all costs. The greater the fidelity in the Church, the fuller is our bond with God, who is faithful to us until the end. 

The patrons of today stand guard over the Church, which is the visible sign of the invisible Lord God. The preface in the Church speaks of the twofold mission of Saints Peter and Paul: “For you fill us with joy from the apostolic work of Saints Peter and Paul. One teaches us to profess the faith, and the other explains its mysteries to us; Peter gathered the early Church from the children of Israel, Paul became a teacher of the faith for all nations, and so both, although in different ways, gathered the family of Christ. We venerate them together, as you glorified both together.” Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us that we may be free from all betrayal and value the virtue of fidelity.