Saint Peter
and Saint Paul, Apostles
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Feed My Sheep Assumption Church window Fairfield CT |
It takes a great feast day
for the Church to interrupt the regular Sunday celebrations of Ordinary time.
Today, June 29, is the feast of Saints Peter and Paul and that certainly
qualifies. You wonder why the Church does not have a separate feast day for
each of these important saints. Perhaps it’s because their lives are so
intertwined in Scripture and Tradition.
Although their backgrounds
were different, they both had remarkable conversion experiences. For the most
part the Acts of the Apostles is all about the work of Peter and Paul. They are
both powerful and effective preachers, they both work healing miracles, and
they both have miraculous escapes from their enemies. Yet, they each insist
that it was only by invoking the “name of Jesus” that they were able to
accomplish anything. They took no credit to themselves. Tradition tells us that
they both suffered martyrdom in 64 A.D. during the persecution of Christians by
the brutal and insane Roman emperor, Nero.
However, I think that the
reason for today’s feastday is not necessarily the greatness of these two
saints but their weakness. Both
were failures who had to seek redemption before they could follow in the Lord’s
footsteps. Rather than trying to hide the story of Peter’s denial that he even
knew Jesus, the Church broadcasts this dark moment in the life of the first
Pope. The denial of Peter is one of the few incidents recorded in all four
gospels. Moreover, artists have never tired of depicting Peter’s denial. In
Caravaggio’s version, after someone claims that Peter was a follower of the
recently arrested Jesus, Peter points to himself as if to say, “who me?”
In the same way, no attempt
has ever been made to hide the fact that St. Paul persecuted members of the
early Church. Before his conversion on the road to Damascus, Paul considered
himself the greatest of sinners. In Raphael’s depiction of St. Cecilia
discarding her musical instruments after that she has discovered the music of
heaven, the saint is flanked by St. Paul and Mary Magdalen, both symbols of
saints who had triumphed over sin. Paul leans on the sword that usually
identifies him in sacred art but it is not an ordinary sword. In one of his
letters Paul referred to the word of God as the sword of the Spirit.
There is a church at the
northern entrance of the city of Rome right next to the famous Paizza del
Populo. It is called Santa Maria del Populo and it contains two of the greatest
works of the artist Caravaggio. In the small Cerasi chapel Caravaggio has
depicted the Martyrdom of Peter on one wall, and just a few feet away on the
opposite wall the Conversion of Paul.
In S. Maria del Populo the
two saints can be seen together again just as on this feastday. Peter is
depicted head down on a cross as he is about to suffer the same fate as Jesus.
In the gospel of the vigil mass we have tha account of the appearance of our
Lord to Peter after the Resurrection. As if to remind us that Peter had denied
him three times, Jesus asks Peter if he loves him. Each time when Peter affirms
his love, Jesus deflects it and tells him to feed his sheep. In other words, to
direct his love to those entrusted to his care. The image at the top of this
post depicts the Risen Lord handing the shepherd’s staff to Peter.
Caravaggio depicted Peter at
the end of his journey but Paul is depicted at the beginning. He is shown
fallen on the ground with his arms outstretched toward the light that is
blinding him. Paul hints at the end of his story in today’s in today’s reading
from the letter to Timothy.
I,
Paul, am already being poured out like a libation,
And
the time of my departure is at hand.
I
have competed well, I have finished the race;
I
have kept the faith.
Today, their message still
goes out to all the earth.
###
Reading 1. Acts 12:1-11
Reading II. 2 Timothy 4: 6-8, 17-18
Gospel. Matthew 16: 13-19 (thou art Peter).\
Vigil:
Reading 1Act 3: 1-10
Reading II: Galatians I: 11-20.
Gospel: John 21: 15-19 (Feed My sheep)