Acts 12 : 1 – 11, 2Timothy 4 : 6 – 8, 17 – 18, Matthew 16 : 13 – 19

Today the Church universally celebrates the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles (d. 64-67). Veneration of the two great Apostles, Saints Peter and Paul, has its roots in the very foundations of the Church. They are the solid rock on which the Church is built, the origin of her faith and will forever remain her protectors and her guides.

Sts.  Peter and Paul were both distinct in their origin and character, and indeed unimaginable and strange in the eyes of many who had known them and their history, of how the Lord had called them to become His disciples, and eventually as His Apostles, to be part of His ministry and works.  These were not people of high repute, but simple ordinary men chosen by Jesus Christ.

St. Peter emerges from the gospels not only as a man of rashness, but as a man of great weakness, not only a man who loved Christ, but also as a man who failed Christ. And his failures, weaknesses, and denials came out in the history of the church as the rock upon which Jesus built his church.

My dear friends, may be someone in our family, circle, a parent, or teacher might have brought us to Christ, who by virtue of our baptism changed our name. Nevertheless, no matter how great the dignity of our Christian life, we still bear with us our human nature as descended from our parents. Even as Jesus made Peter the rock on which he built his church he reminded him that he was taken from weak men.  Peter acknowledged his weaknesses and when he denied the Lord; he sought for redemption. 

The credit belongs to Jesus for transforming an impetuous and unstable Simon into St. Peter – the Rock and Leader of the great Apostolic Church. The love, compassion and patience with which Jesus used was that which transformed the mercurial Peter into a mammoth Prince.

Friends, lets note this, guilt without hope in Christ is despair and suicidal, but guilt with hope in Christ is mercy and joy. Peter had not only a regrettable experience, but a metanoia, a change of heart.

Though many times he fell, he still did not take his focus from Christ, he always placed his hopes in Christ. When we fail, in spite of all our efforts, we must anchor our hopes on Christ, he is there to lift us up every time we fall. Despair should not be a part of our Christian vocabulary.

 St. Paul was known as Saul, the Pharisee and an overzealous young man who sought to destroy the Church and all Christian believers, and went as far as to arrest and persecute every Christian he encountered throughout Judea and Damascus before he encountered the Lord, where he was called and converted.

Paul just like Peter endured innumerable sufferings for the sake of the good news. Paul considered that God’s purpose in allowing him to suffer was to reveal his divine power to demonstrate the reality the cross and resurrection of Christ in and through his life.

St. Paul’s idea of suffering can be gleaned from his attitude to the “thorn in the flesh”. The thorn in the flesh was given to him in order to keep him humble. Sometimes our sufferings should be taken as a way to prevent us from pride. Accordingly, he prayed thrice for its removal, God did not remove that thorn, instead, he said to him, “His grace is sufficient for him”.

My dear friends, the people who love God, instead of him removing their crosses, He strengthens their shoulders according to the weight of their cross. When we encounter thorns in the flesh and we pray, the Lord hears us and answers us, he sends his angels to comfort us. God wants us closer to him not only when we are perfect but even more importantly when are imperfect. In our weakness lies our strength.

This Solemnity reassures us that our many resistances to the Lord need not be a hindrance to the Lord working through us. Peter who denied the Lord and Paul who persecuted the Lord went on to become great servants of the Lord. Our failings do not define who we are.

The Lord’s grace towards us in our weakness and frailty need never be in vain if we continue to open ourselves to the workings of that grace. I pray for this grace of God to be imbued in us to also say, “Lord, may we never be discouraged by our weaknesses and repeated failures”. Help us to focus our eyes on our goal: the cross and resurrection. May this help us to persevere at all times.