Readings:
I - Acts. 12:1-11
II - 2Tim. 4:6-8,17-18
III - Mt. 16:13 -19
ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL (Solemnity)
It takes courage, conviction and above all the grace of God to accept, confess and proclaim Jesus as our Messiah and our Lord. If we accept Jesus as our Messiah and commit to follow Him, we will like Him be abandoned by this world of vanity and false hope. Behold, the constant support and continual assistance of the Lord will accompany us till we complete our race and receive the eternal reward for which Jesus Christ has captured us. This is the central message of all three readings today.
The Church solemnises the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, the giants of Christianity and the great pillars of the Church. Simon Peter was an unlearned fisherman and Saul Paul was a learned Jewish fanatic who persecuted the Christians. Simon encountered the Lord and became Peter, the rock and the leader of the Church. Saul encountered the Lord and became Paul and the ‘apostle of the gentiles’. Both of them accepted Jesus as their Lord and Messiah and proclaimed Him vehemently through their words and deeds. Many were convinced of their emphatic preaching and became Christians. Their life and preaching infuriated the higher authority of the Government officials resulting in the martyrdom of the apostles. St. Peter was crucified upside down and St. Paul was beheaded. Both endured the same with a hope of eternal crown of glory that awaited them in the Paradise.
We too have accepted Jesus as our Lord in Baptism. Mere acceptance will not suffice. We are commanded to proclaim Jesus not in mere words but in our deeds of love as well “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another” (Jn.13:35). In our giving, sharing, forgiving, compassion, kindness, love, generosity and self-giving, people must identify that we are Christians. In our effort to live for the Lord, we would be swimming against the current, and fall a prey to warth of the world of compromises.
Let us not loose heart instead as St. Paul says, “always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully” (2Tim. 4:5). When we are faced with suffering and opposition, may our mind and heart be rejuvenated with the assuring promise of Our Lord Jesus Christ, “Behold I am always with you until the end of times” (Mt. 28:20).
