Sermon of St. Peter and St. Paul

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Saturday, 29 June 2019 : Solemnity of St. Peter and St. Paul, Apostles (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we celebrate the great Solemnity of two saints who are among the most important saints of the Universal Church and in particular of the Church of Rome, the seat of the Vicar of Christ, the Pope, the leader of the whole Church. Today we mark the Solemnity of St. Peter and St. Paul, two of the most prominent of the Apostles of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

St. Peter was the leader of the Apostles and the one to whom the Lord Jesus has entrusted the governance of His entire Church, to be the shepherd among shepherds, supported by the Apostles and the other disciples, as the pillars of the Church of God. It was on the faith of St. Peter, whose name means the ‘Rock’ from his name ‘Petros’ in Greek and ‘Cephas’ in the original Aramaic, that God Himself established the firm foundation of His Church.

Meanwhile, St. Paul was once known as Saul, and although he was once a fanatic Pharisee and enemy of the faithful, but God called him to be his Apostle, to be the one He sent to the people especially to those who are of the non-Jewish origin, also called the Gentiles. Hence, that is why St. Paul is also known by his title of the Apostle to the Gentiles, in the crucial role he played in delivering the faith and the message of God’s truth to many places.

We may then think that St. Peter the Apostle and also St. Paul and the other Apostles are like superhuman and mighty beings, unlike us all. But the truth is in fact that St. Peter, St. Paul and all the other Apostles are no more and no less as human as we are, as flawed and weak as we are, as vulnerable and as sinful as we are. They were called from their various backgrounds and origins, all with the same purpose, that is to serve the Lord.

In our first reading passage today, we heard about St. Peter and how he had been arrested by the order of king Herod who had earlier on put St. James the Apostle to the sword in martyrdom. And the same fate would have been St. Peter’s, and he waited for the day of his trial in the prison. Yet, the Lord had a different plan for St. Peter, as He sent His Angel to break him free of his chains and opened the way for him to escape back to the Christian community.

This was just one among the many trials, challenges and difficulties that St. Peter had to endure in the time of his service and work as an Apostle. And just imagine that St. Peter was initially just an uneducated, rough and unintellectual fisherman who sailed his fishing boat in the Lake of Galilee, a lowly profession, looked down upon and often ignored by the society as a whole. This same fisherman then became a great Apostle, travelling from places to places, preaching and revealing the truth of God to many people, Jews and Gentiles alike.

This was the same St. Peter, who was the one that denied the Lord not just once but three times, when the Lord was arrested by the Jewish authorities and despite having pledged his dedication and desire to serve the Lord and to even die for Him. At that moment, the faith and courage of St. Peter faltered and when confronted by the people who claimed that he belonged to the group of the Lord Jesus, he denied any involvement and denied knowing Him.

And if we look at St. Paul, at the time when he was still known as Saul, there could not have been a worse and more unlikely candidate to be the servant of God than him, for there he was, a young and fanatical Pharisee, whose methods in seeking for and arresting those who professed the Christian faith was particularly brutal and repressive, putting into prison and probably even killing those who have been known to be the followers of the Lord.

Yet, God called Saul when he encountered Him on the way to Damascus to destroy the Christian community there. He came to see the truth of God and received the wisdom and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and from then on, became a committed and hardworking disciple and servant of the Lord, a total change and conversion from his previous life and principles. From a great sworn enemy of the Lord and His Church, into His greatest champion and defender.

That was the same change that the Apostles, including St. Peter experienced as they received God’s love and promise of the Holy Spirit, when at Pentecost they were bestowed the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit. And for the case of St. Peter, in the Gospels, we heard of how the Lord Jesus forgave him and called on him to renew his commitment, knowing that despite having denied him three times, he did so out of fear and uncertainty, but still with a heart that is focused, centred and filled with faith and love for Him.

That is why the Lord asked St. Peter three times, “Peter, do you love Me?” To which St. Peter responded with, “Yes, Lord, you know everything, you know that I love You.” This threefold profession of love by St. Peter is not only symbolic of how God has forgiven his threefold denial, but also a reaffirmation of what God has said in today’s Gospel passage, that He has established His very own Church on the firm foundation of the Rock of faith that is St. Peter.

And just as St. Paul who dedicated himself to the Lord so well and so courageously, in his many missionary and evangelising journeys throughout the cities of the Eastern Mediterranean region, enduring the worst persecutions and challenges, ridicules and humiliations, imprisonment and even threats to his life, St. Peter and St. Paul dedicated themselves, having been called and chosen by God to be the instruments of His good works among His own people.

St. Peter and St. Paul eventually would come to Rome as the last part of their earthly ministry and journey. St. Peter having established many Christian communities in the cities of Antioch among many others came to Rome to be the first of the bishops of Rome, as the elder and overseer of the Church community in Rome, and by virtue of his position as the leader of the Apostles and the Church, he became the first Pope, the first of God’s Vicar on earth.

Meanwhile, St. Paul came to Rome during his last missionary journey as part of his evangelising journey as he went for his last trial, being falsely accused by his enemies and the Jewish authorities, and he claimed the right he had as a Roman citizen to stand before the Roman Emperor and to be tried by him in Rome. St. Paul therefore came to Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire and according to the Acts of the Apostles, he ministered to the faithful there and helped to establish the Church.

Eventually, great persecution of Christians occurred, under the reign of the Roman Emperor Nero, who blamed the great fire that happened in the city of Rome to the Christians as scapegoats. And both St. Peter and St. Paul were martyred in that city, the city of Rome, as great witnesses of their faith for the Lord, glorifying Him in their death just as it had been by their lives and many good works for His sake.

St. Peter was arrested, imprisoned and sentenced to die by crucifixion in the area now known as the Vatican, where now the great Papal Basilica of St. Peter and the Vatican City is located at. St. Peter, with great conviction and humility, proclaimed that he was not worthy to die in the same manner as his Master, Lord and Saviour. Therefore, he asked to be crucified upside down on the cross, and he died glorifying God.

St. Paul was also imprisoned and made to suffer by the same persecution, and he was martyred by beheading in Rome, marking the end of his many years of service and struggle for the sake of the Lord. But similarly, by his death in martyrdom, he proclaimed the glory of God, and became a great inspiration, together with St. Peter and the other Apostles, for the faithful throughout the ages to follow.

Now, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we celebrate this great Solemnity in the memory of these two principal Apostles of the Church, the great St. Peter and St. Paul, holy servants of God, let us all reflect on our own lives. God has in fact called us all in many different ways, just as He has called St. Peter and St. Paul all those years ago. He has given us the same gift of the Holy Spirit and the many talents and abilities we have, and He has called us to be His servants and disciples just as the Apostles had been.

We are all called to be the successors to the works that the Apostles had done, which they had given their whole lives for, in glorifying God. And as I said earlier, God did not call these people from their great or even superhuman origins. Rather, He called ordinary people, from ordinary backgrounds and even from those that we may think or presume to be unlikely and impossible origins.

He called His Apostles and gave them the strength, courage and wisdom to do what He has called them all to do. That is exactly what we should be doing as well. In our own ordinary lives and in our daily living, we should therefore put our trust in God, and turn towards Him wholeheartedly so that we may truly be inspired by the courage and the examples showed by the Apostles that we may bring glory to God by our every actions in life.

Let us all be good and courageous witnesses of our faith in God, in each and every days of our lives. Let us all be like the holy Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, in how we live our lives as great testimonies of faith so that hopefully many more people would be inspired and touched to follow the righteous path towards God’s salvation. Holy Apostles, St. Peter, Vicar of Christ and Prince of the Apostles, pray for us, and St. Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles, pray for us. Amen.

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Friday, 29 June 2018 : Solemnity of St. Peter and St. Paul, Apostles (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this blessed and momentous day, we celebrate the great occasion of the Solemnity of the Holy Apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, the Patron saints of the Church of Rome, as both of those great servants of God were martyred in the city of Rome, at that time the capital and centre of the Roman Empire, which ruled most of the Mediterranean and Europe then.

Those two Apostles were considered to be the greatest among the Apostles and the disciples of the Lord, for St. Peter was the leader of the Apostles and the one to whom the Lord Jesus entrusted His whole Church, the flock of sheep of the whole faithful. And then, St. Paul was the great Apostle whose role in the evangelisation and conversion of the Gentiles was crucial, through his many missionary journeys and numerous Epistles and letters.

Hence, the two Apostles were essentially important pillars of the Church, together with the other Apostles of the Lord who spread the Christian faith far beyond their origin in Judea and Jerusalem. However, we may think that those Apostles were great and mighty people, who were endowed with great intellect and powerful in the sight of men. But those are the qualities and the perceptions of the world, and not what God’s truth prescribes.

Just as the Scriptures said, ‘It is not man who chooses to be worthy of God, but rather, God who made His people to be worthy.’ Essentially, we do not claim to be worthy of God, for if we judge ourselves by God’s standards, none among us are worthy of Him. But God empowered ordinary, mortal men like us to be His disciples, and make us to be worthy through the works He performed through each and every one of us who did His works.

Likewise, many of the Apostles came from humble and ordinary background, and even most likely of origins, those whom the world would never have thought to be possible as even consideration for those who would be called to the position and responsibility as the disciples and followers of the Lord God Most High, King of all kings and Master of the whole universe.

Many of the Apostles were illiterate and uneducated, as poor fishermen, and some others were rebels and thieves, and simple people making their living in various professions and works. One was a tax collector reviled and hated by his own countrymen, and deemed as a sinner for his work and role. And yet some were once enemies of the Lord and the faithful, like St. Paul had been, in his younger days.

St. Peter himself was a simple fishermen at the Lake of Galilee, doing his work and making a living, doing what many considered as a menial and unappreciated profession. But when the Lord Jesus came and called him, St. Peter together with his fellow fishermen left behind their fishing nets and boats, and followed Him from then on, to be fishers of men, just as He had told them.

He would go on to be the leader and the chief among all the disciples and followers of the Lord, because of his great faith and love for the Lord. But of course this did not mean that he had a perfect faith and pathway during his journey of faith. In fact, as we all should have known, St. Peter during the time when the Lord was arrested and tortured during His Passion, denied that he knew the Lord not just once, but three times.

He was utterly devastated after having realised the truth, and he was disappointed on his lack of faith, especially after he professed his faith and dedication to the Lord earlier on during the Last Supper. But unlike Judas Iscariot, the traitor, who also showed regret but chose to take the easy and cowardly way out through suicide, St. Peter chose the path of repentance and recommitment to God.

St. Peter reaffirmed his faith and dedication to the Lord, when the Lord Jesus spoke to him privately, asking him three times, “Peter, do you love Me?’ And Peter reaffirmed his love for Him with true sincerity and genuine intention. The Lord entrusted His Church and His entire flock to his care as leader of the Church and Vicar of Christ, through the words, ‘Feed My lambs’.

St. Peter would face many difficulties, challenges and persecutions, including what we have heard from the Scripture passage from the Acts of the Apostles, telling us how St. Peter was arrested during the episode of persecution by king Herod Antipas. He was imprisoned and was slated to face martyrdom just as what happened to St. James, the brother of St. John, by the same king Herod Antipas.

But God had greater plans for St. Peter, and He sent His Angel to free St. Peter from prison as we heard in our first reading passage today. He would continue from then on, to lead and guide the Church of God, and eventually established more Christian communities, becoming the first Bishop of Antioch and the Bishop of Rome. It was told that at the end of his missionary journey, he went to Rome, the capital of the Empire.

Meanwhile St. Paul was once known as Saul, who came from the region and city known as Tarsus, in southern part of what is now Turkey. He was born as a Pharisee, who were influential group of the Israelite elites at that time, particularly devoted to the preservation and conservation of the traditions and laws of the Jewish people. And St. Paul himself mentioned how he was very fanatical and dedicated to the cause of the Pharisees, even more than many others.

Hence, he was a great enemy of the faith at the very beginning of the Church. As Saul, according to the Acts of the Apostles, he took part in the martyrdom of St. Stephen, the first martyr of the Church, who died defending the faith, stoned by the enemies of the faith, including Saul himself. And Saul took part in the intensive persecution of the Church, causing great fear and grief among the early Christian communities.

Surely, he would have been the least likely among those who would turn towards the Lord and be a Christian, at least in our worldly view of things. How could such a great enemy of the faith become one of the members of the Church? But as mentioned in the Scriptures, what is impossible or seemingly impossible for men, is possible for God. And God had a different plan for Saul.

He called Saul on the way to Damascus, when he was bent on destroying the Church and the faithful living in that city. He converted to the faith and turned himself completely from his past mistaken ways, and entrusted himself to the Lord and hearkened to the mission that was entrusted to him. Thus, he became the renowned St. Paul, a great enemy of the faith and the Church turned into one of its greatest champion and defender.

St. Paul travelled extensively throughout the eastern part of the Mediterranean region, visiting cities and towns, establishing Christian communities in those places and evangelised the faith to the pagan and non-Jewish peoples. His particular approach and passion in bringing about the faith and opening the door of salvation and the Church to the Gentiles or the non-Jewish people made him to be remembered as the Apostle to the Gentiles.

We knew of his many letters or Epistles to the various Church communities, in Ephesus, Corinth, Thessalonica, Galatia, and many more, and he was renowned for his great missionary zeal and commitment to the Lord, that just as St. Peter had suffered many persecutions and difficulties, St. Paul, as well as the other Apostles, also had to endure similar tribulations and trials.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, both St. Peter and St. Paul dedicated themselves completely, to serve the greater purpose of the Lord, the conversion and the salvation of souls, and the establishment and empowerment of the early Church. They were truly exemplary in their actions, as the important foundation of the Church of God, because of which, the Church, as the Lord had said, remained firm even in the midst of the most intense persecutions and trials, to this very day.

St. Peter himself, in the end, met his martyrdom in Rome, punished to die on the cross. To the very end, he showed his great faith and love for God, by humbly requesting that he should not die in the same way as his Lord and Master. He was crucified upside down at the site where now the great Basilica of St. Peter stands. Meanwhile, St. Paul was beheaded as part of the great persecution of Christians under the Roman Emperor Nero. Yet, the contributions and the importance of these two Apostles remain strongly felt even to this very day.

Now, each and every one of us as Christians must follow in the footsteps of those courageous and holy servants of God, by realising that all of us are the successors of the Apostles, who ought to continue the good works that they have begun among the people of God. There is a need for witnesses of the faith, to continue spreading the message of God’s Good News and truth among the people of various nations.

Are we able to dedicate ourselves to the Lord as the Holy Apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul had done? Are we able to live our lives as faithfully as they have done, in the giving of their whole lives and their whole effort to serve the greater glory of God? We are called to follow in their footsteps, and if we think and feel that we are not worthy, as we probably do, then we must realise that no one will ever be worthy of God, as we are all sinners by nature.

Rather, we must realise that God makes those whom He calls, to be worthy, and He called us in various ways, to follow the path that He has shown us. He called us from our various origins, backgrounds, and from our past, wicked and sinful lives, all to become His disciples, with a renewed life, with a new purpose, to devote ourselves to a new Christian existence, showing our faith by examples of our life.

May the Lord be with us all, and may He continue to guide us in our lives. May St. Peter and St. Paul, holy Apostles and patrons of our One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, intercede for us, and pray for all of us in the Church of God, that all of us will remain true and faithful in our dedication and life to the Lord. May God bless all of us and bless all of our endeavours. Amen.

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Thursday, 29 June 2017 : Solemnity of St. Peter and St. Paul, Apostles, Great Feast of the Church of Rome and the Universal Church (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Red
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day, the twenty-ninth day of June, every year, the Church celebrates the great Solemnity of two saints, St. Peter the Apostle and St. Paul the Apostle, both who were very prominent and important Apostles and disciples of the Lord, who had special significance for all of us. They were both martyred in Rome, then the heart of the Roman Empire, and now is the heart of Christendom.

As such, St. Peter and St. Paul are considered the two great pillars of the Church, through whose great dedications, the Church in the earliest days of its history were able to go through dark and difficult times, and persevere through all the challenges and difficulties. They carried out dutifully what the Lord had commanded them to do, to make disciples of all the peoples of all the nations, gathering them to God’s Church.

St. Peter the Apostle, as we all know, was among the first Apostles whom the Lord called, right after His baptism as He walked along the shores of the lake of Galilee. St. Peter was a fisherman who made his livelihood looking for fish in the lake together with his brother St. Andrew, and the brothers St. James and St. John. The Lord called them all, and they left everything behind to follow Him.

Meanwhile, St. Paul was once an elite among the Jewish people named Saul, considered and counted among the Pharisees and who was also a Roman citizen, a rare feat for a Jew at the time, well educated and a zealous devotee of the Law. As we witnessed it in the Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul, as Saul, once was a great enemy of the Church and all the faithful. He once hunted Christians throughout the land and throughout Jerusalem, arresting them to be handed over to the chief priests.

We must be wondering, why did the Lord choose such men to become His disciples, and all the more as His Apostles, the most important ones among His followers. But that is exactly what the Lord had done, for we all have to remember that we do not choose ourselves as worthy for the Lord. Instead, it is the Lord Who chooses those whom He deems to be worthy.

St. Peter was a simple and poor fisherman, while St. Paul was a Pharisee and a zealot Jew who was against the teachings of the Lord. Yet, God called them to be the ones to whom He entrusted His Church. This is what He wants us to know, that all of us, regardless our origins, our background or anything else, are called by the Lord to be His disciples, and we should all look up to the examples of our predecessors, particularly that of St. Peter and St. Paul, great Apostles and saints of God.

St. Peter did not have it easy in his journey with the Lord, as we all know just how he denied the Lord three times when he was asked by those who accused him to be among His disciples, as Jesus was arrested during His Passion. He left the Lord like the other disciples to protect themselves and keep themselves safe. And yet, despite all of these human frailties he showed, St. Peter had in his heart, a genuine love and devotion for the Lord.

That was why St. Peter was entrusted by the Lord to be the one to lead all of the faithful as the Vicar and as the one who would become the foundation of the Church which the Lord established in this world. This the Lord Jesus Himself affirmed as He said, “You are Peter, and on this Rock (as Peter means Rock), I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, for those whom you bound on earth, I will bind in heaven, and those you unbound on earth, I will unbind in heaven.”

Through these words, the Lord entrusted to St. Peter the entire Church, built upon the firm foundation of his faith, tested through sufferings and persecutions. He gave him the authority over the entire Church, as His Vicar and as the Prince and leader of all the Apostles. St. Peter in the many occasions throughout the Acts of the Apostles showed great leadership in keeping the Church together amidst challenges and even bickering and conflicts from within the Church.

St. Peter, according to the sacred tradition, went on to Rome to establish the Church there, and as such was considered as the first Bishop of Rome and as the first Pope, the Vicar of Christ and Leader of the Universal Church. He was persecuted under the reign of the Roman Emperor Nero, and was martyred in Rome, at the place where now St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican stands. Showing his great faith and humility before the Lord, he refused to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord and Saviour. Instead, he chose to be crucified upside down.

Meanwhile, St. Paul as Saul was called by the Lord as he was on his way to the city of Damascus, as the Lord appeared to him and called him to follow Him. St. Paul had a change of heart and resolved to be baptised into the faith. Eventually, St. Paul became a great evangeliser and a hardworking servant of God, who went on to evangelise the Good News to many peoples during his many trips and journeys throughout the Roman Empire, spreading the faith and the Gospel.

He was a champion of the faith, who in particular favoured the integration of the non-Jewish believers, also known as the Gentiles. He favoured abandoning the human excesses of the Jewish laws and welcoming the Gentiles to the faith. That is why St. Paul is also known as the Apostle to the Gentiles. Through his many Epistles or letters to the churches in many places and cities, which is part of our Bible, all of us have learnt more about our faith. These are the same letters that St. Paul used to teach and reaffirm the faith in the faithful of those places.

As we read in the Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul also eventually went to Rome, as he was arrested and persecuted by the Jewish leaders. He appealed to the Emperor and thus crossed over to Rome to be judged by the Emperor. He continued to evangelise among the faithful in Rome until the time when the first great persecution of the faithful began in the year 64AD by the Emperor Nero. Christians were arrested and blamed for the incident of the Great Fire of Rome, and many of them were martyred including St. Paul, who was beheaded.

We see just how God called His disciples and servants from among His people, sanctifying them and making them worthy to be the instruments of His wonderful works. This is how God called all those whom He deems to be righteous and just in His sight. And He has called all of us as well. Yet, it is our choice and free will, which the Lord had given us, for us to follow Him or to walk our own path. Yes, it is a choice which all of us need to make in this life.

All of us are the successors of the Apostles and the disciples of the Lord. All of us walk in His way and we ought to walk in the footsteps of St. Peter and St. Paul, the holy Apostles, who had laid much of the foundation of the Church. Yet, there are still a lot of things to be done, as the work began by the Apostles are not yet complete. There are still many more people that we have to reach out to, as they have not yet received the Good News of God.

We may think that we need great deeds and great works in order to follow the footsteps of the Apostles, but yet, this is not the case. Remember, brothers and sisters in Christ, that the Apostles were themselves simple men from different origins, many of them from humble origins, whom God called to greatness through obedience and faith. As I have mentioned earlier, both St. Peter and St. Paul themselves were ordinary human beings with their respective faults and imperfections. But God made them do extraordinary deeds by His guidance and help.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, what we need to do, is for us to obey the Lord and to put ourselves completely to His care, entrusting ourselves completely to Him and be genuinely faithful to Him. We can begin from ourselves, from our own lives and from our relationships and activities within our own families, communities and societies. We need to be genuine in our faith, following the examples of the Apostles, especially St. Peter and St. Paul, in how much they have dedicated their whole lives to God, by their words, their actions and deeds.

Let us therefore continue the works of the Apostles, by being the bearers of the Good News of God, not just by evangelising through words or preaching, but more importantly, by truly living the message of the Gospels in our lives, by loving one another, by showing mercy and forgiveness to those who have wronged us, and by being sincere and generous in our giving, extending our love and help for those around us who are in need.

There are still many things which all of us can do, following in the footsteps of the Apostles, but we should be inspired and energised by the examples of St. Peter and St. Paul, as well as the other Apostles and all the holy saints of God. They have given their all for the sake of the Lord, and they have persevered through difficult and challenging moments for the sake of God’s people in the Church. Now, all of us bear the same responsibilities that they have borne, and all of us need to work together as the members of His Church, to ensure that the good works of the Lord for the salvation of His people will continue.

Therefore, let us all commit ourselves anew to the Lord, and devote our works for the salvation of our fellow brethren. Let us all seek to fulfil the calling which our Lord has given to us. Let us walk in the way He has shown us, following in the footsteps of St. Peter and St. Paul, for the greater glory of God and for the salvation of His people. St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles and Vicar of Christ, and St. Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles. Amen.