Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Universal Church mark the joyful and glorious occasion of the Solemnity of the two Holy Apostles, St. Peter the Apostle and St. Paul the Apostle, both of whom are among the most prominent of the Apostles, namely those who were considered the inner circle among the Lord’s disciples and followers, and who had been entrusted with the important roles in leading the spread and growth of the Church, with the mission to proclaim the Word of God and the Good News to all the people of all the nations. And in particular, this celebration of the two Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul here is related to their patronage over the city and Diocese of Rome, where the Vicar of Christ, the Pope, the Successor of St. Peter the Apostle as the leader of the whole Universal Church has his seat.

Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we are part of the Roman Catholic Church, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church formed and established by the Lord Himself in this world, and which He had entrusted to His Apostles and given to St. Peter in particular to lead and guide as His Vicar, therefore, the celebration of the Roman Church, that is the Diocese of Rome, the Pope’s See, is also a celebration that is celebrated throughout the whole entire world, throughout the whole entire Universal Church. It was these two great Apostles who helped to establish the Church in Rome, at the very centre and heart of the then mighty and powerful Roman Empire, the political giant and great power of its time, which ruled over the whole Mediterranean region and much of Europe, as well as the lands of the Holy Land where Our Lord carried out His ministry.

By establishing the presence of the Church in Rome, the Lord had called upon St. Peter and St. Paul to evangelise not only to the Jewish people, but as He had told them, to go forth to all the people of all the nations, and to proclaim His Good News and salvation to everyone, so that every people of every nations may come towards the Lord and receive salvation from Him. Therefore, while St. Peter had also founded the See of Antioch and was its first bishop, but it was the See of Rome that eventually became the See of the Vicar of Christ, St. Peter the Apostle and his successors, the Popes of the Church, right up to our current and reigning Pope, that is Pope Francis. Rome as the seat of secular and worldly power is symbolically made to be the seat of the Lord’s Vicar to highlight the authority that God has over all things, even over the secular world and rulers.

Rome was also most importantly the place where both St. Peter and St. Paul ended their respective ministries in martyrdom. St. Peter and St. Paul both encountered persecutions with the other Christians at that time in Rome during the reign of the infamous Roman Emperor Nero, who began the first intense persecution of Christians first in Rome and then elsewhere in the Empire. First to be martyred was St. Paul, who according to tradition was martyred by beheading at the time when the Great Fire of Rome happened in the Year of Our Lord 64. At that time, St. Paul had been in Rome for a while, awaiting the time of his appeal to the Emperor for the case raised against him by the Jewish authorities and the Sanhedrin. He and the other Christians persecuted were executed as they were blamed for causing the Great Fire of Rome, which according to historical evidences was probably started by the Emperor himself.

Meanwhile, St. Peter was also persecuted and was martyred slightly later, about four years later when he was crucified at the site where the great Basilica of St. Peter in Vatican now stands. Out of humility, St. Peter asked his executioners to be crucified upside-down so that he would not die in the same manner as his Lord and Master. And thus was how both St. Peter and St. Paul, Holy Apostles of the Lord, shed their blood and gave up their lives for the sake of the Lord, as they endured persecutions and oppressions in defending their faith, and in their commitment to continue proclaiming the truth of God to the people of all the nations. They did not fear persecution or death because they trusted in the Lord and they knew that even in martyrdom and death, they would share in the glory of God, Who Himself has suffered and died for the sake of all mankind.

If we wonder how we can follow in the footsteps of these two great saints, as we all indeed should do, we must first realise that they were all flawed and imperfect, normal human beings just like each and every one of us. They had their weaknesses and faults, just as we all had ours, but what matters is that, they let God guide them, answering His call and committing themselves to walk down the path which He has shown and told them to walk through. St. Peter himself was once a humble, illiterate and brash fisherman at the Lake of Galilee as Simon son of John, who would have been relegated to the footnotes of history and mankind’s existence just like many other countless fishermen and others out there from those seemingly humble backgrounds. He was not eloquent and he did commit mistakes, and he was also known for his not just once, but thrice denial of the Lord at the moment when He was arrested and persecuted at the beginning of His Passion.

Meanwhile St. Paul when earlier on he was still known as Saul, he was a great enemy of the early Church and Christians for his overzealous but ultimately misguided campaign to eradicate the followers of Christ. The young Saul was a young Pharisee who blindly followed the tenets and ways of the Pharisees, many of whom were also opposed to the Lord. Thus in his young, hot-tempered and overzealous passionate efforts, he brought a lot of grievances and hardships against the early Christian communities throughout Jerusalem, Judea and beyond. He was on his way to Damascus in Syria to continue the persecutions against the Christians there when the Lord appeared to him and had an encounter with him, which eventually led to Saul realising the mistakes and the folly of his misguided ways, and hence, embracing the Lord as his Saviour.

Both Simon and Saul had profound change in their lives upon encounter with the Lord, and they henceforth were known as Peter, from the word Petros in Greek, or the original Kephas or Cephas in Aramaic, which means ‘Rock’. Saul adopted the name Paul shortly after his conversion, and just like Abram and Jacob in the past, who both changed their names to Abraham and Israel respectively after life-changing moments, these name changes highlighted their commitment to a new life that is blessed and in accordance with God’s will. This is what we usually also practice as we adopt our baptismal names upon our baptism, and also when we add on our confirmation names as well. All of these symbolically signified our willingness to commit ourselves to the Lord, just as the two great Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul and other holy servants of God had done.

And even after they have embarked on the path of God’s righteousness, as Apostles, these two men were not perfect either. St. Peter himself still made mistakes, as when he initially followed the opinion of those who sought to introduce strict Jewish customs and practices, and the Lord corrected and helped him to understand what the true desire and intention of the Lord truly was. And according to Church tradition, just before he was to be martyred, it was famously said that St. Peter did flee the city of Rome to flee the intense persecutions then happening against Christians, and he encountered the Lord along the way, carrying His Cross. When St. Peter asked the Lord, ‘Quo Vadis?’ meaning ‘Where are You going?’, the Lord told St. Peter that He was going to Rome to be crucified again. St. Peter, embarrassed at his lack of courage, resolved to go back to Rome, and was crucified upside-down as mentioned earlier on. St. Paul on the other hand was also involved with disputes with the other disciples of the Lord and the Apostles, such as the dispute which he had with St. Barnabas the Apostle who accompanied with him in some of his missionary journeys.

All these showed us all that the Apostles, such as St. Peter and St. Paul, and just like the many other saints and holy men and women of God, are not supermen or superwomen, and they are not people who are greater than us in nature. But what makes them distinct and eventually revered, is the fact that all of them allowed the Lord to lead them in their lives, so that through their imperfections and sins, made better and more perfect, forgiven and reconciled to God by His mercy and love, they have shown us all that all of us indeed have the potential to be saints as well, brothers and sisters in Christ. Today, as we rejoice in this great Solemnity of St. Peter and St. Paul, Holy Apostles of the Lord and the Patron saints of Rome and the Universal Church, we are all reminded that each and every one of us also have the same capacity and potential to be like them, and indeed, we have been entrusted with the same mission that the Lord had entrusted to His Apostles, to St. Peter and St. Paul, two millennia ago.

In our world today, there are still a lot of people who have not yet known the Lord and who are still living in the darkness, in ignorance of God’s truth and love. And it is up to us all, as members and parts of God’s One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, to continue the good works which the Apostles like St. Peter and St. Paul had started. All of us in our own respective areas in life, in our various commitments and vocations in life should always strive to do our best to sanctify our lives, our every good works and efforts, so that in everything that we say and do, in our every interactions with one another, we will always be the worthy and holy disciples and missionaries of the Lord, to proclaim the Good News and the Gospel of salvation through our own lives, just as the Holy Apostles had done. All of us are the ones who can touch the lives of many others and help them to come ever closer to God and His salvation.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore do our best to be good examples and role models for one another in our lives, to be like the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul in their commitment and faith in the Lord. Let us all do our part as active and contributing members of the Church of God to evangelise and proclaim the Lord and His salvation to more and more people throughout the world. Let us joyfully reveal and show the Lord, His love and kindness to all, by our own loving actions and obedience to God’s will in our own respective lives, in how we love the Lord our God wholeheartedly, and in how we love one another, our fellow brothers and sisters, most generously and tenderly at all times. May God bless us all, and be with us in all of our journey throughout life, now and always. Amen.