6-29-25 Feast of St. Peter & St. Paul

Our readings today tell us of the two most prominent saints of the Christian faith. But, for these two, like most of us, they did not start out that way.  Both encountered Jesus  in very different ways, but each had to decide, following that encounter, whether to follow Jesus completely or not.  And even when they did decide to follow him, we can see from the scriptures, it does not mean there was a smooth easy road ahead of them.  For both, in their relationship to Jesus and in the development of their own faith in Jesus, there were questions and periods of confusion .

Peter initially, encounters Jesus after a night fishing and catching nothing.  Peter has pulled his boat on shore, but Jesus tells him to put out into water and cast his nets again Simon, the fisherman, informs Jesus, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.” (Luke 5:5)    Of course, we know what happens that day after that.  But still Peter realized he had a lot to cope with in himself, before he was ready for a make a full commitment to Jesus - “depart from me, Lord for I am a sinful man….” (Luke 5:8).   He had to journey with Jesus for 3 years, live through the horrendous events of Holy Week, and be imbued with the power of the Holy Spirit on before he was ready to live out his commitment and become fully the leader of the Church-  “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” To which Jesus responded, “Feed my sheep.” (John 21:17)  

St. Paul also, after his experience on the road to Damascus needed to grow in his understanding of what he would suffer for accepting Jesus and following him. Following Paul’s blindness on the road to Damascus a disciple, Ananias, is sent to cure Paul and baptize him- “.. the Lord said to Ananias, “Go, for this man (i.e., Paul) is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and Israelites, and I will show him what he will have to suffer for my name.” (Acts 9: 15-16) However, before Paul too could begin his ministry to the Gentiles, he needed to understand what would be required of him as a follower of Christ.   So, after his baptism in Damascus by Ananias, he went off into the deserts of Arabia for 3 years before he was ready to return and meet with the apostles in Jerusalem (see Galatians 1: 17-18) and be given his ministry, as the apostle to the Gentiles.

Both men shared one thing in common, as they developed their understanding of their faith and how to live it out, each needed to understand, as we do to- “No one can go back to the beginning and make a brand new start, but anyone can begin now, to make a brand new conclusion.”¹  The “now” for Peter and Paul, as it is for most of us, is the key revelation we need to accept in order to fully commit to following Jesus.  That commitment is not a one-time thing but rather a daily opportunity, a daily experience.  Will we have days that we may mess up completely?  Yes.  But Jesus did not choose us because we are perfect, as he did not choose Peter and Paul, he chose us because we contain the possibility of being perfected.

In his book “What’s God Doing Today” Reid Isaac writes the following:

“You hear a lot of singing and talking about saints in Church. What is a saint like, anyway?  A saint is a one hundred per cent, first rate human being.  Nobody is born a saint. It’s something you have to grow into. A saint is not a hero all his or her life.  He or she starts out just like all the rest of us: bad-tempered, enthusiastic, lazy, frightened. This is the kind of material God uses to make saints.  Sometimes it’s a long process.  But it’s a process God has already started on you and me. God intends to turn us all into saints. He is determined to make us all one hundred percent first-rate human beings. All He asks from us is a little cooperation.                                                                                                                            So, when we sing and talk about saints in Church, we are not talking about some strange, angelic person the likes of whom you will never meet at school or on a bus. We’re talking about people like us, who know how it feels to be scared, or to fail, or to lie, or to cheat. But somehow, through it all, people who are saints have let God touch them, mold them, and use them. God intends to do the same for us. All He asks is that we bring all of ourselves, including the ugly and fearful and weak parts, and give them to Him to be cleansed, healed, and strengthened.  For He can make a one hundred percent, first-rate human being out of anybody who will let Him. He can empower us to do what we have to do.”²                                                                                                                                                                         So, the choice is ours whether we too want to be a “saint”, a friend of God, or not?   Or as one little girl said to her mother after touring many stained-glass cathedrals in Europe, and was asked what a saint is, responded- “ A saint is somebody the light shines through.”³                                                                May the light of God shine through each of us.

1.       1.SundaySermons.com                                                                                                                                                            2.Isaac, R., “What’s God Doing Today?” Talks with Parents and Children, Seabury Press, 1967 (Adapted).        3.SunndaySermons.com