29.06.2024 – St. Patrick Catholic Church, Largo, FL

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Peter and Paul: Examples in keeping the faith

Acts 2:1-11, Psalm 34, 2Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18, Matthew 16:13-19

We celebrate today the solemnity of two great pillars of our Christian faith; two great apostles and two great examples: Saint Peter and Saint Paul, the princes of the Apostles. Thanks to the Church’s tradition, their lives and examples are well known to all of us. And today’s readings help us to appreciate them. What is very clear is that both men were flawed; but both were also transformed by encountering Christ. Both were martyred for their faith in Christ. Both died in the city of Rome. Both reminds us of God’s power to transform and redirect our lives. The personal lives of Peter and Paul were completely changed by their following Jesus. Peter was entrusted with the keys – a symbol of the teaching authority. Paul championed the holy cause of preaching of the faith to believers and non-believers – mission and evangelization.

I want us to pay attention to today’s second reading. This letter (2Timothy) is said to have been written from Paul’s imprisonment in Rome. It is a very stirring text, “I have fought the good fight to the end; I have run the race to the finish; I have kept the faith.” The image of the fight and the race suggest that “keeping the faith” was a struggle for Paul; which means it did not come easy to him, just as keeping the faith did not come easy to Peter either.

Keeping the faith does not always come easy to any of us. Paul’s letters show that he was very aware that keeping the faith was not due primarily to his own efforts; it was the Lord who enabled him to keep the faith. As he says in today’s 2nd Reading, “the Lord stood by me and gave me power.” It is the Lord who empowers all of us to keep the faith; his faithfulness to us enables us to be faithful to him; his faithful love encourages us to keep returning to him even after failure. The faithful witness of Peter and Paul speak to us ultimately of the Lord’s faithfulness to us all.

We pray the intercession of these great Saints of God as we strive to keep the faith while teaching and preaching it to others both in words and actions.