Homily for Feast of Saints Peter and Paul

Today we remember Peter and Paul: two men called by God to do great things. Two men who certainly were not born equipped to serve the Lord, but rather, two men who were equipped by the Lord  himself with the grace necessary to preach the Gospel and ultimately to give up their lives for its sake.

First came Peter: a young fisherman living on the coast of the Sea of Galilee in a marginal province of the mighty Roman Empire.  A man prone to outbursts and weak under pressure.

Then came Paul: an intellectual, learned Pharisee who persecuted Christians, even ordering the stoning of the first martyr of the Church, Saint Stephen.

We have here two unlikely characters for the Lord to call into his service and to establish as apostles of the Church.  Yet the Lord chose them, and entrusted to them his Saving Gospel.

Peter and Paul became apostles not through their own merits, but through their experience of Jesus’ mercy.  It was mercy that transformed them and equipped them to be preachers of the Good News.  It was mercy that changed them and spurred them on dedicate their whole lives to Jesus Christ.

Though Peter recognized Jesus as the Messiah at Caesarea Philippi, he sank in the sea due to his lack of faith and later denied Jesus three times.

Paul, the exemplary persecutor of Christians was not even trying to follow Christ.  He was dedicating all of his energy into squashing Christianity.

Yet these two men had an encounter with Jesus that changed them forever:

“Peter, do you love me?” asked the Risen Christ.  Then he ordered him to: “ Feed my lambs, Tend my sheep, feed my sheep, Follow me.”  Peter must have fallen on his knees in tears, feeling unworthy to be in the presence of his friend after having denied him and abandoned him.  Jesus could have said so many things: “Peter, why did you leave me?  Peter, What were you thinking?  Peter, I thought you were on my side, go away now and leave me alone.”  But Jesus showed great mercy and Peter’s heart was changed forever.

On his way to Damascus with letters granting him permission to arrest Christians, Paul heard a mighty voice: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?…. this is Jesus, the one you are persecuting.”  This encounter with Christ changed Paul’s life immediately. He began to preach despite the understandable suspicion of Christians.  They must have been saying, “the one who was killing us, now pretends to be one of us!  Watch out!”  Jesus showed great mercy and Paul’s heart was changed forever.

These two men died for Christ as martyrs in Rome during the persecution ordered by Emperor Nero in the year 64.  Peter was executed near the Vatican Hill and buried in a simple, shallow grave on the hillside.  Paul was decapitated outside the city and buried in a cemetery on the Via Ostiense.  For 2,000 years their tombs have been pilgrimage sites, you can visit them today.

Their blood, along with the blood of countless martyrs, fertilized the ground for the Church of Rome to grow and flourish with a strong faith.  Peter and Paul preached the faith they had received with great conviction to the Romans, becoming the living link between Jesus and the Church of Rome.  This same Church, 1.2 billion strong today, continues to claim Peter and Paul as her apostles.  Throughout the centuries, Peter and Paul have been our living link to Jesus Christ himself.

Two unlikely characters were called to do great things.

Our apostles are a denier of Christ and a murderer of Christians.

An encounter with Jesus’ mercy equipped them with the necessary grace to even die for their Savior.

This fact fills us with much hope and joy.  We can all ask ourselves a simple question: If a denier and a murderer can be transformed by the mercy of Jesus Christ, why can’t I?  If Jesus called two unlikely characters to be the great apostles of the Roman Church, why can’t Jesus be calling me to do great things?  To do great things in my family, at my workplace, at my parish, in my community, my country, my Church?

Jesus doesn’t call the ready to follow him, he rather readies the called.

May he grant us the grace we need today at this Eucharist, at this encounter with his mercy, so that our lives can be constantly renewed and transformed with the great hope we find in Peter and Paul, two unlikely men called by God to do great things.