Howdy, Church fans! This is my last post from St. Patrick’s. Next week I will be at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in south Anchorage. There was a lot more to the homily this week, but here is the kernel on the Scriptures for the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul.
Many, many years ago, I was trying to figure out what my confirmation name would be. I tell our confirmation students every year, you don’t so much pick your patron as your patron picks you. This was true for me as well. I was leaning towards St. Paul because I admired his missionary zeal. However, soon before we were to turn in our names, I watched a mini-series called “Peter and Paul.” It featured Anthony Hopkins as St. Paul and Robert Foxworth as St. Peter. By the time it was over, I found I resonated much more with St. Peter. So that’s the name with which I was confirmed.
It’s not often the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul falls on a Sunday. Commemorating these two great princes of the Church, one it’s great shepherd and Bishop of Rome, and the other its great missionary, is particularly providential this weekend.
St. Peter is a particularly compelling figure. I am struck by the difference between pre-Pentecost Peter and post-Pentecost Peter. Pre-Pentecost, he is sort of a holy goofball. He doesn’t get the whole picture, but he gets the one central thing right. He knows who Jesus is. As we hear today in the gospel (Mt. 16): “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” That is enough for him. The rest is just detail. Jesus knows this too and it’s enough for him. That’s why he said that the gates of hell would not prevail against the Church built on a faith such as Peter’s. (He didn’t say they wouldn’t try really hard, but we have seen over 20 centuries that they will not prevail.”
Post-Pentecost Peter is a changed man. With the gifts of the Holy Spirit, all the tumblers have now fallen into place. With the authority given to him by Christ, he leads the Church and preaches the gospel with bold eloquence. His kerygmatic discourses in Acts and his letters form a firm foundation for articulating the faith in any age.
St. Paul also goes through a similar transformation. He is zealously upholding the truth. But when he meets the Truth itself in the Resurrected Christ on the road to Damascus, his humility is what is truly striking. He too comes to know who Christ is, and that is enough for him. And it is enough for Jesus.
It makes me wonder, is not a similar transformation not only possible, but intended by Christ for each one of us? Are we willing to let ourselves be transformed by the love of Christ into what God has created us to be? Given these two great princes of the Church, I believe that it is not only possible, but inevitable.
Like St. Paul, it is time for me to move on to the next place Christ wants me to be. As I go, my prayer is that every person in 99504 who encounters Christ as he is manifested here in the Parish family of St. Patrick’s will be transformed by the love of Christ, like St. Peter and St. Paul. All it takes is a little faith, a little humility, and a whole lot of Jesus.