Homily: Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles - Unity and Catholicity

I was able to take a wonderful pilgrimage to Rome this last april with parishioners from my previous parish assignment.  Our very first stop, after the 8 hour flight, was to the Basillica of Saint Paul’s.  There, one is able to kneel and pray and the relics of Saint Paul Himself, the Great Apostle to the Gentiles, who was martyred in Rome.  Kneeling before the relics of the man who gave so much, who suffered so much, traveling through rapid rivers, steep mountains, malaria-plagued lowlands, and bandit-ridden passages, enduring robbers, attempted assassinations, imprisonment, torture, and martyrdom, I thought, here is one of the great men of history, the heroes, an exemplar of the Christian life. 

No pilgrimage to Rome is of course complete without visiting the Basilica of saint Peter’s, literally built upon the remains of Saint Peters, the basilica’s altar sits directly over Saint Peter’s relics and place of burial. One can kneel there, in prayer, and in awe, before the holy relics of the man Jesus Christ himself called “the rock, upon whom he builds his Church.”  And to be able to witness thousands and thousands of people, from all over the world, in pilgrimage and devotion, is always edifying. You can really witness the meaning of the Church’s Catholicity in Rome— people of every race, nation, and tongue.

Pope Benedict XVI wrote how both Peter and Paul came to Rome, the city that was the place of convergence for all people, which would become the primary place of the “first of all expressions of the universality of the Gospel.” 

Interestingly, though the body of Paul is buried in the Basilica of Saint Paul’s and the body of Peter is buried in the Basillica of Saint Peter’s, the relics of their heads are enshrined in the Cathedral of Rome, the symbol of the Bishop of Rome and Supreme Pontiff’s authority over the universal Church, in the Basillica of Saint John Lateran.  The heads of Peter and Paul where the Pope, the successor of Saint Peter exercises his headship over the whole Church throughout the whole world.  To be faithful to Christ is to look to the leadership of Peter’s Successor.

Today’s feast reminds us that the faith is not something that we create, or that we live out in isolation in our tiny corner of the world.  Christianity is something we have received from the Apostles on behalf of Jesus Christ, and that we live out in union with Christians throughout the whole world.  Through the intercession of Peter, the rock, and Paul, the fearless preacher of the faith, may we give ourselves fully in generous and selfless service of the Gospel for the glory of God and salvation of souls. 

Entrance Antiphon: These are the ones who, living in the flesh, planted the Church with their blood; they drank the chalice of the Lord and became the friends of God.

Collect: O God, who on the Solemnity of the Apostles peter and Paul give us the noble and holy joy of this day, grant, we pray, that your Church may in all things follow the teaching of those through whom she received the beginnings of right religion.

Prayer over the Offerings: May the prayer of the Apostles, O Lord, accompany the sacrificial gift that we present to your name for consecration, and may their intercession make us devoted to you in celebration of the sacrifice.

Preface: It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks, Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God.  For by your providence the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul bring us joy: Peter, foremost in confessing the faith, Paul, its outstanding preacher, Peter, who established the early Church from the remnant of Israel, Paul, master and teacher of the Gentiles that you call.  An so, each in a different way gathered together the one family of Christ; and revered together throughout the world, they share one Martyr's crown.  And therefore, with all the Angels and Saints, we praise you, as without end we acclaim.

Communion Antiphon: Peter said to Jesus: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.  And Jesus replied: You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church.

Prayer after Communion: Grant us, O Lord, who have been renewed by this Sacrament, so to live in the Church, that, persevering in the breaking of the Bread and in the teaching of the Apostles, we may be one heart and one soul, made steadfast in your love.

Solemn Blessing: May almighty God bless you, for he has made you steadfast in Saint Peter's saving confession and through it has set you on the solid rock of the Christian Church.  And having instructed you by the tireless preaching of Saint Paul, may God teach you constantly by his example to win brothers and sisters for Christ.  So that by the keys of St. Peter and the words of St Paul, and by the support of their intercession, God may bring us happily to that homeland that Peter attained on a cross and Paul by the blade of a sword.