ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL
June 29 is a day of great significance for the Church as it celebrates the legacy of two pillars of Christian faith: St. Peter and St. Paul.
Where would the world be today, I wonder, without the groundwork for the Church to spread Jesus’s message of love, laid by these two people? Twenty centuries later, their lives continue to inspire millions around the world, including me.
The journey of Peter from fisherman to first Pope is a testament to the transformative power of God’s call to redirect our passions. Jesus called him “The Rock,” foretelling that this no-nonsense, headstrong character would come to symbolize the stability of the faith. As for Paul, formally a fiery persecutor of Christians, his radical conversion turned him into one of Christianity’s most fervent apostles, one who would shape the theology and practice of the Church.
A fisherman and a learned Pharisee. Maybe their stubbornness was all they had in common at first. So, imagine how powerful Jesus’s message of love had to be to convince these two tough-minded types to give up everything to follow his lead and lay the infrastructure of the Church that would last forever.
Peter and Paul took different paths, but they were on the same mission. Despite their many differences, they were united in their devotion to Christ who had called them forth. This can explain why St. Augustine said: “They were as one.” And it is why today’s joint celebration of these two unlikely pioneers of Christianity highlights the unity of the Church in all its diversity, having the same ultimate goal.
The willingness of these two giants of Christianity to suffer martyrdom for their faith in a spirit of meekness and forgiveness stirs the human spirit to reflect on the power of Jesus’s message (“Blessed are the meek, the merciful, the peacemakers, the persecuted…” Matthew 5.4 – 5.11). Peter was crucified upside down. Paul was beheaded. They remind us that the way of faith and spiritual growth in God is often marked by sacrifice and suffering, and that to bear witness to the truth is a call to courage, to stand firm in the face of persecution or cynicism. But Peter and Paul also remind us that no one is beyond the reach of God’s grace, and that our past does not define our ability to become the best version of ourselves, whatever our personality happens to be.
Peter and Paul were also living testaments of Jesus’ commandment to love and care for others. Let’s use their examples to renew our own faith and zeal as builders of the church and living stones of it.
Eugene Aucoin is a retired human resources director and university professor. He spoke around the world about nurturing human potential, but his passion is sharing his love for the teachings of Jesus. His first book Has Science Killed God? won Asia’s best Catholic book of the year in theology in 2020. His next book, with Novalis, will focus on the Beatitudes for inner peace and happiness. Eugene also gives seminars about faith.
