Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Dedication of the Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican and the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Church marks the occasion of the Dedication of the two great churches of Christendom, following after just over a week ago the celebration of the Dedication of the Lateran Archbasilica, the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Saviour and of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist in Lateran, the Cathedral of the Vicar of Christ in Rome, the Mother Church of the whole world. Today, the two other great churches, namely the Papal Basilica of St. Peter in Vatican and the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls are remembered in their dedication and consecration to become hallowed and worthy places of Divine worship and the sacred offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, to be the dwelling place of God Himself amongst us.

The Basilica of St. Peter in Vatican and the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls together with the Lateran Archbasilica and the Basilica of St. Mary Major are altogether known as the Four Major Papal Basilicas, which were all built and then consecrated to God in the city of Rome, where the Apostolic See and the Throne of St. Peter, the first Pope and Vicar of Christ as Bishop of Rome was established. And these two great Basilicas which Dedication we remember today are celebrated together because of the importance of both St. Peter and St. Paul both to the Church in Rome as well as to the whole entire Universal Church. St. Peter as mentioned was the first Pope and the Vicar of Christ as the leader and Prince of the Apostles, while St. Paul was the Apostle to the Gentiles, the great missionary and evangeliser who dedicated his life to proclaim the Good News of God to everyone.

And these two great Basilicas are truly strongly intertwined with the story of these two Apostles as they were related to the history of their last mission and work in Rome, then the capital of the great and mighty Roman Empire, proclaiming the Word of God and His Good News to the still mostly pagan people of Rome and its surrounding regions. The Basilica of St. Peter in Vatican, in the region that is now the Sovereign State of the Vatican City stood atop the ancient area which was just outside the city of Rome during the time of the early Church, where a great Circus existed, for the purpose of races and games by the Romans, and where many of the faithful were persecuted and made to suffer martyrdom there, including that of St. Peter himself, who was martyred by the intense persecution of Christians under the Roman Emperor Nero about three decades plus after the death of Christ.

St. Paul was also martyred during that same period of intense persecution of Christians by the Romans, when many of those faithful were framed by the Roman Emperor Nero according to historical tradition, for the Great Fire of Rome that destroyed much of the city of Rome. The truth according to many historians is that probably the Emperor himself was the one responsible for the great fire, but the eccentric Emperor found it very convenient to put the blame on the Christians of Rome which were seen as foreign by the Romans due to their beliefs, and were also hated by the Jewish diaspora who disagreed with the Christian teachings. Therefore, it is easy for them to be targetted by the persecutions and the oppressions from the Roman state, especially as the Christians also refused to offer sacrifices to the pagan Roman idols and to the deified Roman Emperors.

In any case, the persecution ended with many Christians being martyred as mentioned, and like St. Peter, who was crucified upside-down in the ground that was to become the Vatican Necropolis and the Basilica of St. Peter, St. Paul himself was beheaded. The site that is to become the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls was the place where the Apostle lived during his stay in Rome which was recorded at the last part of the Acts of the Apostles, which we heard in our first reading passage today. Both of those holy places therefore served as important reminder of these two great saints of God, the ones whom God had entrusted with the mission and guidance of the Universal Church, either through the faithful leadership of St. Peter as the Chief of all the Apostles and Vicar of Christ, as well as the vigorous evangelising missionary efforts of St. Paul.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we all also listened in our Gospel passage today in commemoration of the Dedication of the two Basilicas, we heard of the story of the time when the Lord Jesus appeared to the disciples who were in the middle of the lake, attacked and troubled greatly by the storm which were happening all around them, with the great waves and wind threatening to sink the boat that they were all in. The Lord appeared to them at that darkest of moments as a source of Hope to all of them. They were all terrified thinking that He was a ghost, but the Lord told them all not to be afraid and to trust in Him. St. Peter was the first to say to the Lord that if He was truly their Lord and Master, then he would be able to walk on the water towards Him, which he then did, after the Lord invited him to do so. We heard how St. Peter stumbled and doubted seeing all the great waves and storm, and began to sink, only to be rescued by the Lord, Who then proceeded to calm the storm.

This is a reminder for all of us that the Apostles themselves were once humble men and women like us, and just like us, they were also sinners, with their doubts and imperfections, and they also face the same struggles as we do. St. Peter himself according to Apostolic tradition faced difficulties and struggles throughout his life and ministry, on top of his doubts as recorded in the Scriptures where he denied knowing the Lord during the time of His Passion. Then at the time of his suffering and martyrdom in Rome, it was told that St. Peter faltered somewhat having seen all the persecutions and martyrdom happening all around him, and he fled the city of Rome, only to encounter a vision of the Lord Jesus Himself bearing His Cross to Rome.

When St. Peter asked the Lord where He was going, the Lord told him that He was going to Rome to be crucified again. Humbled by shame at his indecisiveness and lack of faith, St. Peter went back to Rome and gave himself to be martyred, and asked to be crucified upside down as he felt unworthy to die in the exact same manner as his Lord and Master. Then, St. Paul himself as all of us know well, was a great enemy and persecutor of early Christians as an overzealous and fanatical young Pharisee, striking at many of the believers of the Lord and arresting many of them on behalf of the chief priests and the members of the Sanhedrin. But the Lord had a different plan for this young man, whom He encountered and called on the way to Damascus, which eventually led to the conversion of the young Saul, who henceforth as St. Paul devoted himself wholly to the service of God.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore as we rejoice greatly on the occasion of the celebration of this anniversary of the Dedication of the two Basilicas, dedicated to the two great servants of God, St. Peter and St. Paul, whose lives we have just discussed about, let us all therefore be reminded of their great courage and faith, and also how they have turned their lives for the better by following the Lord and committing themselves to Him. They both serve as great reminders for all of us that we ourselves have also been called to be great servants and disciples of the Lord, to proclaim Him in our world today and to do what the Lord has entrusted us all to do in our own respective capacities and opportunities we have been given.

Let us all therefore strive to be ever more faithful to the Lord in all things, being ever more filled with God’s love and grace and to be truly worthy of Him, dedicating ourselves ever more to His cause. May the Lord continue to help us and strengthen each one of us, that He will always grant us His power and blessings in all the efforts and endeavours we carry out in life, now and always. Amen.