June 29, 2025

 Solemnity of SS. Peter & Paul 

Clearly Different But Certainly One

Msgr Thomas Gervasio

 
Today we honor two giants of our faith. Peter and Paul, so central to the Church’s life were so different in temperament and yet one in their love of the Lord, one in their labors to build the Church, and one in shedding their blood for Christ.
 
Peter was a simple fisherman who lived with our Lord throughout his public life. He was born Simon but the Lord gave him the name Peter (Cephas in Hebrew, Petros in Latin) meaning “rock”. A name change in Scripture means the entrustment of a mission. Our Lord entrusted Peter with the mission of being the chief shepherd of the Church and the visible source and foundation of the Church’s unity. His successors as Bishop of Rome carry on this divine mission. Today it is entrusted to Pope Leo XIV, who like Peter, serves as the Vicar of Christ, (il Dolce Cristo in terra)
 
Paul was a Roman citizen, more sophisticated than Peter. He was well-educated in the Law but he was a zealous persecutor of the Church. Unlike Peter, he did not live at Our Lord’s side. Paul was radically converted on his way to Damascus where he intended to arrest Christians. Blinded by the bright light and hearing the voice of the Risen Lord, he was given the mission to spread the very Gospel he sought to destroy. Abandoning his Hebrew name Saul—he assumed his Roman name, Paul—he became the tireless Apostle to the Gentiles. His transformation sent shockwaves through the early Church. Imagine the suspicion when this persecutor, suddenly proclaimed Christ! His conversion proved authentic when Paul endured shipwrecks, beatings, imprisonment, and countless dangers for the sake of the Gospel. His experiences are recounted in the Acts of the Apostles and in his thirteen epistles.
 
What can these towering figures—these two great columns of the Roman Church say to us after 2000 years?
 
Peter was not perfect. He was embarrassingly human. He denied Our Lord three times. He was at times, reprimanded by the Lord and was even called “Satan!” Scripture scholar, Fr. Raymond Brown described him as a man who wrestled with “abundant weakness, impetuosity, cowardice, pride anger, and pettiness.” Yet, Christ chose him to be the leader, the rock upon which the Church is built.
 
Paul was very transparent. He repeatedly expressed his feelings of inadequacy and was honest about his personal struggles. Yet Christ chose him to be the great teacher and evangelizer.
 
We who must live out our own vocation, who must carry out the mission the Lord entrusts to us can be comforted by Saints Peter and Paul. How often we, like them, wrestle with doubt and fear? How often we, like Peter, are big in words and small in action? How often, like Paul, we can feel so overwhelmed and frustrated by the problems and challenges of life?
 
No matter what befell Peter and Paul, no matter their deep feelings of inadequacy, they did not despair. I am sure Peter looked back on his denial of Christ, Paul looked back on his persecution of the Church, but they were both were humble enough to accept the power and mercy of the Lord. The Lord did not give up on them. No matter what challenges they faced, they never took their eyes off the Lord. Neither should we!