May Saints Peter and Paul Inspire Us

It should be encouraging for us to reflect upon the virtues of these two main pillars of our Church: St. Peter and St. Paul, because we can more easily identify with them and their flaws like ours.

Peter had the tendency of being cocky, overconfident. He thought of being better than the rest of the 12 first disciples and more loyal to Christ Jesus. Of course, we know what happened when confronted by the slave girl in the courtyard of the high priest during Jesus’ trial. How he denied knowing Jesus three times. We also know that Peter could be petty, demanding recognition for his sacrifices, and he could be unwilling to forgive those who wronged him.

As for St. Paul, we know how he was so consumed by his ideology of strict observance of the Mosaic Law that, with all his energies, he persecuted fiercely the fledging Church. However, we must be also impressed by the sincere love that both had for Christ to the point of sacrificing everything for him and for the Gospel, all the way to their supreme sacrifice consummated in Rome.

Peter was nailed to a cross upside down, out of humility for his crucified Lord and Master Jesus Christ; and Paul, being a Roman citizen, was beheaded for Christ. All of this is inspiring but perhaps a little bit too vague to implement.

It would be better, then, to focus on two virtues that could be beneficial to us as we, too, try to be loyal and faithful disciples of Christ Jesus.

In the first reading (Acts of the Apostles 12:1-11) we can focus on the incredible, unshakeable trust in the Lord that Peter had and, in the second reading (2 Timothy 4:6-8,8-9), on the total self-giving of Paul.

We can learn a lot from both. St. Peter, the one who had been so scared to confess his belonging to Jesus’ band of disciples, was fast asleep in prison. This is more than remarkable. He knew that, humanly speaking, his days, his hours were numbered. King Herod had already disposed of James and he, Peter, was next, for sure. He was guarded by 16 soldiers and chained between two with no possibility of getting out alive, yet, rather than being agitated, sleepless and worried sick, St. Peter was asleep.

In the Bible, there are several images of people asleep as icons of complete trust in God.

Psalm 131:2 Rather, I have stilled my soul, hushed it like a weaned child. Like a weaned child on its mother’s lap, so is my soul within me.

Mark 4:38 Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

In theory, complete trust in the Lord and his love for us seems a relatively easy proposition. Yet as we see it in our repeated, countless failures to trust in him, it is the most difficult undertaking.

So, here is a favor we can ask of Peter: to count on the prayers of others for us and to trust in the love, wisdom and power of God so much that we lead serene and fruitful lives regardless of what is happening to us and around us, even if a terrifying storm was to rage all around us.

Or we can choose to imitate St. Paul: Paul defined his life as a libation.

Once the realization that Jesus loved him, and gave his life for him, sinks in, Paul is totally consumed by love for Christ and the cause of the Gospel. At the end of his life, he can state with confidence that he has never held back. He is totally spent for Christ. He is a libation. 

This is a powerful image: a libation was an act of worship. One would choose some quality wine in a chalice, a cup and then pour it, down to the last drop, in front of the effigy, the statue of a deity to honor that deity. The image that must be impressed in the back of our minds is the one of a complete outpouring, a total ritual “waste” of something very good. It is possible only if we are convinced (a) that the God on whom we place the bet of our entire life is trustworthy and almighty and (b) that we are perfectly expendable. 

Confronted by these two powerful expressions of trust and of total self-giving, we should choose, based on our real love for Jesus, which one of the two we want to pursuit with the help of the Holy Spirit. We might even try a bit of both; and may Saints Peter and Paul continue to inspire us to do our very best to show what Christ truly means to us.