June 29 2022 - Sts. Peter and Paul - Teachings, Examples, Mission, Martyrdom

Before the reform of calendar, Saints Peter and Paul were celebrated over the course of three days here at the end of June with the Vigil of Peter and Paul on June 28, the Feast of Peter and Paul on June 29, and the Commemoration of St. Paul on June 30. A fitting tribute, as Peter and Paul are two of the greatest men to have ever lived.

The prayers and readings of those three days are now consolidated into one feast, today’s, in which we celebrate their teachings, their examples, their mission, their martyrdom, and their heavenly intercession.

The Collect asked God to help us follow their teachings, may the Church, in all things follow the teachings of those through whom she received the beginnings of right religion. The Christian Church is forever shaped by the teachings of these two saints. 

In the first reading, we heard of Peter, having willingly suffered imprisonment for the Gospel, being set free by God’s angel. From there we know, the prince of the Apostles would travel to Rome to proclaim the Gospel and minister to the Roman Christians. I remember visiting the church of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome, the Church of St. Peter in Chains, and seeing the chains that bound Peter and were broken by the angel.

In the second reading, we heard of Paul writing to Timothy from his prison cell in Rome. Paul, no doubt having heard of Peter’s rescue from prison, speaks of how the Lord will rescue him too, only not by breaking his physical chains, but by raising him from the dead and delivering him to the eternal kingdom of heaven in the resurrection. Paul’s hope in resurrection is fill our hearts daily.

In the powerful Eucharistic Preface for this day, we proclaim God’s providence which fills us with joy at the celebration of Peter and Paul: “Peter, foremost in confessing the faith, Paul its outstanding preaching, Peter, who established the early Church from the remnant of Israel, Paul, master and teacher of the Gentiles…and 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.”

These two saints are examplars of missionary zeal. Their lives became centered on gathering souls to Christ. Not storing up treasures on earth, not gaining earthly fame, not living the comfortable life, not simply allowing life to pass them by as they awaited death. They went out to gather souls out of love for Christ. And that love was confirmed by their willingness to suffer a martyrs death for Christ.

May the love and zeal of Peter and Paul always animate us; may we know their heavenly assistance in being faithful to our share of the Church’s mission, in gathering souls to Christ for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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The Lord Jesus built his Church on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. In faith let us pray.

The Lord prayed that the faith of Peter would not fail, may the Lord strengthen the faith of His Church and protect her from all dangers.

The Lord appeared to Peter after his resurrection and appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus, may he make us steadfast proclaimers of his resurrection.

The Lord called Peter, a fisherman, to be a fisher of men, may he raise up new vocations to the priesthood and consecrated religious life. 

The Lord mercifully forgave Peter’s denials, may he have mercy upon all sinners, and all those who suffer illness or any other need.

The Lord gave Peter the keys of the kingdom, may the gates of that kingdom be open to all who trusted in Christ’s mercy while still on earth, especially…

Heavenly Father, graciously hear the prayers of your pilgrim Church on this great Solemnity and grant our prayers of petition through Christ, Our Lord. 

June 29 2020 - Sts. Peter and Paul - Honoring their glorious martyrdoms

We celebrate today the martyrdoms of two of the greatest human beings who have ever lived: St. Peter and St. Paul. 

Peter was killed very near to where his basilica now stands on the Vatican Hill in what was then a Roman Circus named after the Emperors Caligula and Nero. As his executioners were preparing to crucify him, Peter gave them one last dying wish which delighted the sadistic executioners. Even though his sufferings would be greatly multiplied, Peter asked to be crucified upside down, as he didn’t consider himself worthy to be crucified in the same manner as our Lord, .

At the end of St. John’s Gospel, is the story where the Lord asks Peter three times, “Peter, do you love me”, then tend my sheep, feed my sheep.  The Lord then says, “Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands.”  And Peter did stretch out his hands on a cross because he loved the 

Lord more than anything else.  And now Peter is with the Lord forever in heaven.

St. Paul was slain for Christ, also in Rome, legend says, on the same day as St. Peter.  Because Paul was a Roman citizen, the law said he could not be crucified.  So he was dragged out the south gate of Rome and was decapitated at a place called Aquae Salviae.

Where they started out was dramatically different from where they ended. Peter was a Galilean fisherman. Paul, a rabbinical student, who was initially convinced that Christians were heretics, and needed to be eradicated. Both experienced tremendous conversion as their love and conviction for Christ became the primary motivators of their lives. Paul, for example, even from prison, makes spreading the Gospel, his primary task.

I love reading the Scriptures pertaining to these two men, for God shines through their human weaknesses and doubts and brings about tremendous courage in their lives—courage enabling them to do tremendous things to build up the infant Church, courage which led them to give the ultimate witness.

God chose these men to build up the Church and witness to the saving faith in their day, and God chooses us to do the same.

May we know their intercession, and remember always their example, that we, like them, might be poured out like a libation in service of the Gospel, that we may profess always and everywhere that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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The Lord Jesus built his Church on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. In faith let us pray.

The Lord prayed that the faith of Peter would not fail, may the Lord strengthen the faith of His Church and protect her from all dangers.

The Lord appeared to Peter after his resurrection and appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus, may he make us steadfast proclaimers of his resurrection.

The Lord called Peter, a fisherman, to be a fisher of men, may he raise up new vocations to the priesthood and consecrated religious life.

The Lord mercifully forgave Peter’s denials, may he have mercy upon all sinners, and all those who suffer illness or any other need.

The Lord gave Peter the keys of the kingdom, may the gates of that kingdom be open to all who trusted in Christ’s mercy while still on earth, especially the deceased members of the Yurick & Hodock families, for whom this mass is offered.

Heavenly Father, graciously hear the prayers of your pilgrim Church on this great Solemnity and grant our prayers of petition through Christ, Our Lord.

June 29, 2017 - Saints Peter and Paul - Catholicity and Unity

Towards the end of my first parish assignment at St. Columbkille in Parma, I was able to lead a wonderful pilgrimage to Rome. Our very first stop, after the 8 hour flight, was the Basillica of Saint Paul’s.  There, one is able to kneel and pray before 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, who traveled through rapid rivers, steep mountains, malaria-plagued lowlands, and bandit-ridden passages, endured robbers, attempted assassinations, imprisonment, torture, and martyrdom all for the sake of the Gospel, all out of love for Jesus Christ, I thought, here is one of the great men of history, the heroes, an exemplar of the Christian life.  St. Paul pray for us.

No pilgrimage to Rome is complete without visiting the Basilica of Saint Peter. The basilica’s altar sits directly over Saint Peter’s. Pilgrims kneel there, in prayer, and in awe, before the holy relics of the man Jesus Christ himself called “the rock, upon whom I build my Church.”

One is struck by the shear of pilgrims in Rome: thousands and thousands of people, from all over the world, in pilgrimage and devotion. Among the relics of Peter and Paul, one truly encounters the Church’s Catholicity: comprised of living stones of people of every race, nation, and tongue.

Pope Benedict XVI wrote how it was fitting 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 “universality of the Gospel.”

Interestingly, though the body of Paul is buried in the Basilica of Saint Paul 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 basilica of St. John Lateran. We celebrate the feast of the dedication of Saint John Lateran every year on November 9. For it is there among the heads of Peter and Paul, where the Pope, 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 Christian Faith is not something that the individual creates for himself, or a religion 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.  In great gratitude for our faith, and through the intercession of Peter, the rock, and Paul, the fearless preacher, may we give ourselves fully in generous and selfless service of the Gospel for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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The Lord Jesus built his Church on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. In faith let us pray.

The Lord prayed that the faith of Peter would not fail, may the Lord strengthen the faith of His Church and protect her from all dangers.

The Lord appeared to Peter after his resurrection and appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus, may he make us steadfast proclaimers of His resurrection.

The Lord called Peter, a fisherman, to be a fisher of men, may he raise up new vocations to the priesthood and consecrated religious life.

The Lord mercifully forgave Peter’s denials, may he have mercy upon all sinners, and all those who suffer illness or any other need.

The Lord gave Peter the keys of the kingdom, may the gates of that kingdom be open to all who trusted in Christ’s mercy while still on earth.

Heavenly Father, graciously hear the prayers of your pilgrim Church on this great Solemnity and grant our prayers of petition through Christ, Our Lord.