Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles

Thursday, June 29, 2023

Peter, who, despite his many flaws and weaknesses, Jesus chose at the Sea of Galilee to become a fisher of men. Time after time, Peter wavered in his faith and understanding of who Jesus truly is, as he objected to the notion of a suffering Messiah, sunk into the sea when his faith faltered while walking on the water with Jesus, and disavowed Jesus to the servant woman after swearing at the Last Supper that he would never deny his Lord. Still, Peter was among the apostles who witnessed the Transfiguration, the raising of a dead child to life, and the agony at Gethsemane. Peter is the only apostle to whom Jesus said, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to 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” (Matthew 16:17-19). In the Gospel of John, the Risen Lord tells Peter to “feed his lambs and his sheep” (21:15-17). The Gospels clearly illustrate that Jesus chose Peter as the leader of the apostles.

Paul, the only apostle who did not walk with Jesus during his three years of public ministry, described himself as one who “persecuted the Church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it, and progressed in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my race, since I was even more a zealot for my ancestral traditions” (Galatians 1:13). Yet, on the road to Damascus, “suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’” (Acts 9:3-4). Jesus Christ revealed himself to Paul, which led to a conversion of the most pharisaic of Pharisees, the most legalistic of Mosaic lawyers. The extreme persecutor became the brilliant preacher.