Peter And Paul And Their Church-Building Witness

Saturday of the 32nd Week in Course 2023

Today we celebrate an anniversary that is important to the Catholic Church, with readings that should speak to all Christians. The anniversary is of the dedication of the Basilica of Ss. Peter and Paul in Rome, which is atop Vatican Hill and contains the bones of St. Peter. Both Peter and Paul are spotlighted in the readings of the day.

Paul’s first two years in Rome appear to have been uneventful. This reading from Acts actually wraps up Luke’s second book, called the Acts of the Apostles. He’s under house arrest, but from that seat of wisdom he can continue to minister to the Christians in that Church, which may date from almost the original Pentecost, about fifty days after the Resurrection. He calls the Jewish leaders together, tells his story of arrest and appeal to Caesar, and they tell him they’ve gotten no news about him from Judea, but will come back and listen to his appeal. They do so. Some believed and some disbelieved, and Paul gives them this closing statement: ““The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet: ‘Go to this people, and say,

You shall indeed hear but never understand,

and you shall indeed see but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull,

and their ears are heavy of hearing,

and their eyes they have closed;

lest they should perceive with their eyes,

and hear with their ears,

and understand with their heart,

and turn for me to heal them.’ Let it be known to you then that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.” Tradition tells us that many of the Roman guards who stayed with Paul became members of the Church, and that Paul himself was released after the two years, going to preach in what we now know as Spain before he was returned to Rome and tried, and martyred.

Peter gets a little different treatment, since the Scriptures don’t share with us information on his last years in Rome. In Matthew’s account, Jesus has just used five loaves and two fish to feed five thousand men, plus the accompanying women and children, and had his disciples gather up TWELVE baskets of fragment leftovers. We all know the story, and the film The Chosen depicts it very well. But Peter figures prominently here, because after Jesus dismisses the huge crowd of maybe fifteen thousand men, women and children, he actually forced the disciples into the boat and sent them across Lake Tiberias. Then he went up a nearby hill to pray. The boat on the lake–remember that it’s dark–is in trouble. The original Greek says it was tortured by the waves, probably because of a strong headwind. Then they see a vision of a human on the lake, walking. They are convinced that they are seeing some kind of apparition, phantasma in the Greek. They screamed in fear but Jesus replied: Fear not, ego eimi. That is usually rendered “it is I,” but it’s really the literal words God uttered to Moses out of the burning bush, the sacred name of God, “I am.” No phantasm is this, but rather the manifestation of God in His Son, Jesus Christ. Peter, of course, is always trying to imitate the Master, but waits until Jesus summons him from the boat to walk on the water. Matthew says then “he saw the wind,” or rather the effect the wind had on the water, and began to sink. Jesus rescued him, asking, “why doubt, man of little strength?” Then the whole boat makes a joyful noise to God!

So we learn a lot here from Peter: first, play your strength. Peter is a natural-born leader, and he starts out leading the folks in the boat. Second, read the situation correctly. The vision of Jesus was unclear, but quiet the people who think they are under attack by the “zombie apocalypse” and wait for a clear picture. Third, keep your humble. Peter wanted to be like Jesus, a good goal, but like Adam gets out of the boat, challenging the natural law as it applies to humans and large bodies of water. Fourth, when you get yourself in trouble, recognize who is always present, and cry “Lord, save me.” With all those clothes hindering you, guy, if you don’t rely on divine help you are going to drown! Finally, when you see the divine power manifest, worship the Source, Our Lord.