Solemnity of Saints Peter & Paul
HOMILY for the Solemnity of St Peter & St Paul
Acts 12:1-11; Ps 33; 2 Tim 4:6-8. 17-18; Matt 16:13-19
There’s no place like Rome: Every time I visit Rome in the course of my work as Promoter General of the Rosary, I find myself charmed by that city despite all its chaos and dirtiness and the hordes of people who throng its cobbled streets – because Rome is simply unique in the history of the world, and of the Church. The liturgy of today’s feast constantly alludes to this history: These twin founders of the Church, St Peter and St Paul, are allusions to Romulus and Remus the fabled twin brothers who founded the city of Rome itself. And in the Office hymn sung at Vespers, the city is referred to henceforth as “felix Roma”, happy Rome because the “precious blood” of these great Princes, leaders of Christ’s Church, has been shed in this city and so ennobled it, (“purpurata pretioso sanguine”). And the opening stanza of this hymn begins by evoking the “golden light and rosy beauty” which one often sees in the city of Rome, and, at least for my photographer’s eye, it is the quality of this light which gives Rome its perennial beauty.Â
For many, today’s feast seems to evoke the grandeur of Rome – just think of the unparalleled sight of St Peter’s dome – and the glory of the Papacy – Rome is full of reminders of the power and prestige and wealth of the popes over the ages. Cardinal Wiseman, for example, when he wrote his somewhat ultramontane hymn for Roman pilgrims, entitled, God bless our Pope, praised and evoked the vision of “the golden roof, the marble walls, the Vatican’s majestic halls”! And all this splendour is seemingly justified by the words of today’s Gospel which one finds emblazoned around the drum of the dome of St Peter’s in letters that are 9 feet tall: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” (cf Mt 16:18a, 19a)
However, there is something missing from that quotation: “And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Mt 16:18b). And this suggests to me that the Church over which Peter and his successors preside, and for whose sake Paul laboured and taught, will be constantly opposed and attacked by the powers of hell, and this will be felt by the Church as an institution but also, personally, by St Peter and his successors, ie, the Popes, and by St Paul and his successors, meaning, the Bishops. Hence we can notice that the readings for today’s feast focus on the hard work of St Paul, whose life has been “poured out” like a sacrificial offering to God, and on the “terrors” which beset St Peter, through torture and imprisonment, and which also afflicted St Paul. Indeed, St Paul recounts his sufferings as an Apostle in his 2nd letter to the Corinthians: “Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.” (11:24–28) There is, then, little that is externally majestic or glorious about the life and apostolic labours of St Peter and St Paul. And if you know where to look in Rome, you will see many reminders of this too: the Mamertine prison near the Forum, for example; the chains of St Peter enshrined nearby; the chains of St Paul displayed above his final resting place; and the obelisk of the circus near the Vatican hill where St Peter was crucified upside down – this obelisk was probably the last things he saw alive and it’s now in the centre of St Peter’s Square. Were it not for them and their brave witness and their tenacious fidelity to the vocation given to them by God, we would not have received the true Faith, and the Sacraments of the Church, for ourselves and for our forebears. Hence, it is right that we offer this Sacrifice of Thanksgiving and honour them today. For they are the giants on whose shoulders we stand.Â
Nonetheless the focus of the Liturgy today isn’t so much these two Princes of the Church, as such, but rather the Lord himself. The psalm response sums it up for me: “From all my terrors the Lord set me free.” As such, we’re being called to look to the Lord in the midst of all our fears, to seek him in the darkness, to trust in God’s Providence as these men did. There are many things that one can read in the Media, or on WhatsApp groups, or online that will make one anxious and fearful. There are many of these fears which might oppress and terrify us; demons of our sins and of our past which haunt us and tempt us. But these powers of hell will never prevail, Jesus promises, if our Faith in him is as firm as a rock, as firm as Peter’s faith. And although there is a note of triumph today, of course, the virtue that is being exalted is humility, a humility that enables Peter to hear the Father’s revelation of Christ’s identity to him, and he is then able to proclaim Jesus as Messiah, Christ, Saviour. So the psalm says: “This lowly one called; the Lord heard, and rescued him from all his distress.” Hence, today’s feast calls us to imitate the virtues of St Peter and St Paul, which is to be humble before God and men; to be willing to sacrifice our time, our talent, and our treasure for the sake of the Gospel; and to trust in the power of Christ to save us, even from physical dangers. For whatever it is that comes against us, whether it is geopolitical or personal and intimate, our faith promises us that the Lord is at hand to set us free; his angels will come and rescue us, even as Peter was rescued from prison. Above all, if we are bound by our sins, habitual sins, we are exhorted to turn to the Lord for help. For as St Paul says: “The Lord stood by me and strengthened me… So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.” (2 Tim 4:17-18)Â
And this, it seems to me, is what it means for the Church, governed by the Pope, to hold the keys to the kingdom of heaven. It doesn’t mean that St Peter and the popes can arbitrarily decide what is right and wrong, or forgive sins as though they’re dishing out personal favours. Rather, it means that they model for us, by their humble lives as slaves of Christ and the Gospel, how the gates of the prisons of sin that isolate us from God and from one another, can be opened – We’ve been set free for charity, to love and serve one another better, as St Paul says (Gal 5:1). And St Peter and St Paul show us, therefore, when we’re freed from sin, how the gates of heaven are opened to us: Through grace-filled endurance and discipline, like an athlete running a race, we shall grow in charity, in the love of God and neighbour, until we receive at last the “crown of righteousness”. Thus heaven’s gates are opened to us, because the Lord shall have been at work in us, through sanctifying grace, to purify us of sin, and to renew us in his holiness until we are humbly bound to him, and take refuge in him, our Lord and our only Saviour.Â
Hence the psalmist says: “Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed the man who seeks refuge in him.” So today, through the Holy Mass, may we taste the goodness of God, may his sweet grace be increased within us, and may St Peter and St Paul encourage us and pray for us so that, like them, we may in all situations humbly turn to God our as refuge. Thus shall we also be called by the Lord, “Beatus”. For Rome might be hailed as Felix, happy, but we desire something even more transcendent and lasting: We want to be called, like St Peter, “Blessed”.Â
