Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today is the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, two pillars of the Church. Peter is the head of the Church as we heard in the gospel today, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” The Pope, Leo XIV is Peter and upon this rock, I will build my Church. On this rock of faith of Peter, Christ builds his Church. For this reason, nothing destroys this Church because it is built on rock. Remember the parable, the wind will come, the storms rage, but this house will never fall. It is the Church, and it is on the rock of Christ. Peter is the rock not because of his strength but he has Christ within himself. For this reason, Peter is a rock. Where there is a Christian, the devil does not have any power because Christ is present.
Peter made his profession of faith today when he said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” This is faith, faith in Jesus Christ. It is not faith in an individual but faith in Peter, who is the representative of Jesus Christ on this earth. It is a faith that unites us with Christ and makes us one with him. Christ is the rock on which we can build our home, our life, our history, our happiness.
With St. Paul, it is impressive because he did not know Jesus Christ until he met him on the road to Damascus and was blinded by such a great light, when he encountered Jesus Christ. This feast shows us two aspects of the Church. First, Peter with Christ is the rock and then Paul with Christ is the light. Through Paul the light of Christ has been manifested to the world, to the gentiles, who were a people in great darkness. One day that great light has shone for them, Jesus Christ, through St. Paul. This apostle, Paul, is the figure of the missionary dimension of the Church. He represents those who today are giving their lives to announce the gospel to the world. They are proclaiming the gospel, the good news, the love of God for all men and women.
St. Paul was a man who did not know Christ in his life, nor did he know the experience of the Risen Lord until this encounter on the way to Damascus. It was then that Paul saw the light of the Lord that enlightened his darkness, his Pharisaism, his idea that he was worshipping God and giving him glory by killing these Christians, as Jesus predicted. This is what St. Paul thought, but after his huge conversion and years later, he dies as a martyr, like Peter. Christ said to both of them to follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
This is a wonderful feast because it shows us two men who sustain the Church. St. Paul with his preaching and Peter as the rock. They sustain the Church with their faith, with their preaching. Pope Leo is the successor of Peter, and we pray for him today which is a very big feast day in Rome as well. Let’s not forget the missionaries who are giving their lives by announcing constantly the good news and the love of God for all. We also remember the priests, and all those with a prophetic voice, especially the catechists who give their lives in all parts of the world and are witnesses of this love and of their encounter with Christ, like St. Paul’s. When you have an encounter with Him your lives change.
These two men, Peter and Paul, were very poor men, and they experienced their own poverty and weaknesses as we know. Jesus said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan.” He said to not get ahead of me, but follow me, get behind me. He was the first to deny Christ and he denied him three times, which means it was in a sense, unchangeable. Paul did the same as he tracked down Christians with all his might and even witnessed the death of St. Stephen and so many others. He was a man who persecuted Jesus Christ who said to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” If you persecute a Christian, you persecute Jesus Christ. Both men are very weak like you and me, but they had this encounter with Jesus Christ that changed everything.
At first Peter does not change, but he will when he meets Christ on the shore of the sea of Galilee. Jesus says to him, to you love me, Peter. He responds, “Yes, Lord, I love you.” And then a second time he asks him, “Do you love me?” Peter responds again that he loves him. Then a third time he asks him if he loves him. Peter responds, “Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you.” Then Christ says, “Feed my sheep!” Jesus says his election of Peter is irrevocable.
At first Paul did not know what it meant when he saw the light. This was the very beginning of his conversion. He says shortly thereafter, “I want to do the good, but I do the evil that is within me.” It is wonderful to see the human side of Paul, who has a very strong character and fights with Barnabus and even sends him away. But there comes a time later in his life when he says, “I have run the race, I fought the fight, I finished the race and the crown of glory of Jesus Christ awaits me.” And eventually he will say, “It is not longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”
Let us ask the Lord through the intercession of these two saints, Peter and Paul, to intercede for us today, and make us Christians. It doesn’t matter what you have done in your life or that you are poor or weak or do not love anyone. Don’t worry, Paul and Peter were the same, and today through their intercession you can have an encounter with the Risen Lord that changes your lives. It is a personal meeting with the Risen Lord who is a living person and who wants to give you a new life, and to be full of joy. He does not demand anything of us and thinks well of us as he did with Peter and Paul. Let us praise and bless the Lord for sending Peter and Paul into our lives. God intervenes in our life by sending us specific people, like these two men.