SS Peter and Paul Byzantine Icon
In England and Wales: Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles.
In his Papal Bull of Indiction, Spes Non Confunditur, announcing the Jubilee Holy Year of 2025, the Holy Father Pope Francis mentions several key themes that draws together pastoral concerns he has highlighted throughout his own pontificate, but he does so in a spirit of 'hope' hence the title of the bull, hope does not disappoint, a phrase taken from St Pauls letter to the Romans ( Rom 5:5)
In addressing us all, Pope Francis reminds us that the city of Rome has a special place in the history of the Church, for it the city of the Apostles Peter and Paul.
For those of us who are part of the Catholic Church both West and East, the common faith we share across our rites and ecclesial communities is bound up in the communion we have with the Bishop of Rome. Therefore the feast of these two apostles is a moment when we rejoice in the long tradition of our living community, and give thanks that despite so many grave problems throughout the centuries, with Peter we are still able to say to Jesus: "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you."(Jn 21:17)
It is worthwhile taking the two sets of readings for this Solemnity, the Vigil and the Day, and using them as guide or perhaps lesson in the early dynamic of our Catholic faith. Peter and Paul are not exclusively Roman, in fact our Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Churches can claim them as true apostles of the communities of Antioch, where we were first called Christian and where Peter set up his 'cathedra', 'and of course both started out from the community of James at Jerusalem. If anything we should also invoke them as the great saints of our Middle Eastern Communities for they belong to us all, East and West alike.
In the two readings from Acts we find in the Vigil Peter healing in the name of Jesus: Peter said: "I have neither silver nor gold, but what I do have I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarean, [rise and] walk'(Acts 3: 7) a reminder that what we do in faith is a gift to be freely given, not a service rendered for money as some religious peoples think! In the Day reading from Acts 12 the accent is on the drama of James' martyrdom and Peter's escape from prison. Just as with Jesus and so with us, a prophet is never recognised in their own country, as shown in this story. Though we preach the gospel of Peace, we may still be called to be true witnesses, martyrs by our blood!
The two gospel passages draw together two great themes of Peter's vocation to be shared with us: the first is a statement of love for Jesus, one we also know is well meant but for Peter, as for us, has to be proven through our weakness, for to profess love for Christ is not simple a feeling but a way of life, 'love me' says Jesus, 'love my flock', it's a simple as that-and just as simply forgotten when self replaces other in our faith life. Remind yourself of the saying of Jesus about the last judgement and of finding him!
If the Vigil Gospel gives us the call of Jesus to 'follow him' like Peter, the Day Gospel reading takes us to our mission. Before anything else do not read Mark's account of the commissioning of Peter as some supreme moment of triumph for the apostle, it is not! Neither is it a statement of ecclesial invincibility, it is a call to mission shared by us all in different ways, for the Church that is to be built on that humorous quip, a rock that is potentially very unstable, a community of sinners. That needs thinking about a bit more in a spirit of humility, and perhaps in the sense that Jesus himself invites us to tell out who he is when he says to Peter: 'He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter said in reply, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father'.
(Mk16:15-17)
Paul gives us part of his life story in the two readings. In the Vigil we see how he becomes one of the Apostles for as he tells us he had to prepare for his mission for three years, not in Jerusalem but in those regions we know well today for conflict, and where lest we not forget some of our oldest communities of Christians still exist "I did not immediately consult flesh and blood,
nor did I go up to Jerusalem
to those who were Apostles before me;
rather, I went into Arabia and then returned to Damascus.
Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem
to confer with Cephas and remained with him for fifteen days.
But I did not see any other of the Apostles,
only James the brother of the Lord.
--As to what I am writing to you, behold,
before God, I am not lying".
(Gal 1 :15-18)
To those of us who keep on forgetting that the roots of Christianity lie in the Middle East, and share foundational elements with Judaism, Paul's words act as a corrective, they also remind us that his place as an apostle was won slowly -and with Peter's support, but that his mission was always seen as for the gentiles, that is us! The reading from 2 Timothy in the Day Mass deserves to be taken in its entirety, but I shall append it as part of our lectio. If anything it is a hymn of selfless offering, a song-prayer given to us by Paul as he ends his life in the love and service of Christ, but imparts through it a blessing on all of us: "I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his appearance".(2 Tim 4: 7,8,)
May the intercession of the great and glorious Apostles, Peter and Paul remain with us, and may we like them finish the race, and keep the faith! Amen
LECTIO
2 Timothy 4: 6-8;17-18
I, Paul, am already being poured out like a libation,
and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have competed well; I have finished the race;
I have kept the faith.
From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me,
which the Lord, the just judge,
will award to me on that day, and not only to me,
but to all who have longed for his appearance.
The Lord stood by me and gave me strength,
so that through me the proclamation might be completed
and all the Gentiles might hear it.
And I was rescued from the lion's mouth.
The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat
and will bring me safe to his heavenly Kingdom.
To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Homily of Pope Francis
June 29th 2024
St Peters Basilica Rome
Let us look at the two Apostles, Peter and Paul: the fisherman from Galilee whom Jesus made a fisher of men, and the Pharisee who persecuted the Church but was transformed by grace into an evangelizer of the nations. In the light of God's word, let us draw inspiration from their story and from the apostolic zeal that marked their lives. In encountering the Lord, they experienced a true passover: they were set free: the doors to a new life opened before them.
Brothers and sisters, on the eve of the Jubilee Year, let us reflect on that image of the door. The Jubilee will be a time of grace during which we will open the Holy Door so that everyone may cross the threshold of that living sanctuary who is Jesus and, in him, experience the love of God that confirms our hope and renews our joy. In the story of Peter and Paul, several doors open.
The first reading tells of the deliverance of Peter from prison; it is filled with images reminiscent of Passover. The event takes place during the feast of Unleavened Bread. Herod recalls the figure of the Pharaoh of Egypt. The deliverance takes place at night, as it did for the Israelites. The angel gives Peter the same instructions once given to Israel: he tells Peter to rise quickly, gird himself and put on his sandals (cf. Acts 12:8; Ex 12:11). The account, then, is that of a new exodus. God delivers his Church, frees his people who are in chains, and once again reveals himself as the God of mercy who sustains them on their journey.
On that night of deliverance, the doors of the prison are first miraculously opened. Then, we are told that when Peter and the angel accompanying him came to the iron gate leading into the city, "it opened to them of its own accord" (Acts 12:10). They did not open the door; it opened by itself. It is God who opens doors; he is the one who sets us free and opens the way before us. Jesus, as we heard in the Gospel, entrusted the keys of the Kingdom to Peter, yet Peter realizes that it is the Lord who opens doors; he always goes before us. This point is significant: the doors of the prison were opened by the Lord's strength, but Peter then found it hard to enter the house of the Christian community. The woman who went to the door thought that it was a ghost and did not open the door (cf. Acts 12:12-17). How many times have communities not learned this wisdom of the need to open the doors!
The journey of the Apostle Paul is also, primarily, a passover experience. First, he is changed by his encounter with the Risen Lord on the road to Damascus and then, fervently contemplating the crucified Christ, discovers the grace of weakness. When we are weak, he tells us, it is then that we are strong, because we no longer rely on ourselves, but on Christ (cf. 2 Cor 12:10). Seized by the Lord and crucified with him, Paul can write, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Gal 2:20). Yet this does not lead to a consoling, inward-looking religiosity - like that found in a few movements in the Church today - on the contrary, the encounter with the Lord ignites in the life of Paul a burning zeal for evangelization. As we heard in the second reading, at the end of his life, he could say: "The Lord stood by me and gave me strength to proclaim the message fully, that all the Gentiles might hear it" (2 Tim 4:17).
In describing how the Lord gave him so many opportunities to preach the Gospel, Paul employs the image of open doors. He journeyed to Antioch with Barnabas, and we read that "when they arrived, they gathered the church together and declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles" (Acts 14:27). In a similar way, in writing to the community in Corinth, he says, "a wide door for effective work opened to me" (1 Cor 16:9). Writing to the Colossians, he urges them: "Pray for us also, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ" (Col 4:3).
Brothers and sisters, the Apostles Peter and Paul both experienced this grace. They witnessed first-hand the work of God, who opened the doors of their interior prisons but also the actual prisons into which they were thrown because of the Gospel. The Lord also opened before them the doors of evangelization, so they could have the joy of encountering their brothers and sisters in the fledgling communities and bring the hope of the Gospel to all. Now, this year we also are preparing to open the Holy Door.
Brothers and sisters, today the Metropolitan Archbishops appointed in the last year receive the pallium. In communion with Peter and following the example of Christ, the gate for the sheep (cf. Jn 10:7), they are called to be zealous shepherds who open the doors of the Gospel and, through their ministry, help to build a Church and a society of open doors.
With fraternal affection, I greet the delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, whom I thank for coming to manifest the shared desire for full communion between our Churches. I also send heartfelt cordial greetings to my dear brother Bartholomew.
May Saints Peter and Paul help us to open the door of our lives to the Lord Jesus. May they intercede for us, for this City of Rome and for the whole world. Amen.
Copyright © Dicastero per la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
