June 29 – Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles
A peculiar procession was on its way up to Jerusalem: the Master in the lead and the disciples, fearful, behind Him (cf. Mk 10:32). Everyone felt that something very great was about to happen, but… even after three years with Jesus, the Apostles did not understand the greatness of their own calling and even less did they glimpse the immensity of the One they were following.
On the way, Our Lord was stopped by two of His disciples: “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory” (Mk 10:37). It was a very human request, moved by the desire for the glory of this earth…
With divine patience, Jesus sought to raise the sights of those frivolous disciples: “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” (Mk 10:38). “We are able,” they asserted. And Our Lord prophesied: “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized” (Mk 10:39).
This prophecy was fulfilled with each of the Apostles. However, at the same time that He foretold the martyrdom of His disciples, the Divine Master showed that the Church would not be governed by the dictates of the world.
Indeed, if it were to obtain an earthly throne of glory, as the two Apostles requested, there would be nothing better to do than to please the world, in order to be acclaimed by it. However, what Jesus offered them was His chalice and His baptism: sorrow. Through suffering, Our Lord would save our souls. And this mission He would bequeath to His disciples, and therefore to the Holy Church itself.
This is why the Mass of this solemnity begins with the following antiphon: “These are the ones who, living in the flesh, planted the Church with their blood; they drank the chalice of the Lord and became the friends of God.”1
Converted into heroes by the Holy Spirit, St. Peter and St. Paul who were, respectively, a former coward and a former persecutor, imitated the Redeemer and, like pillars, solidified the foundation of the Church by drinking to the dregs the chalice of suffering and martyrdom, as well as preaching Baptism.
The Master met Peter in his earthly life and took him from fishing in order to lead him into the deepest waters of the apostolate (cf. Mk 1:16-18). He looked down from Heaven on Paul, still a persecutor, threw him to the ground and blinded him so that he might recover not only the sight of his eyes, but above all that of his soul (cf. Acts 9:1-22).
Our Lord united them in the same cup of suffering, through martyrdom. They shed their blood and offered themselves as a holocaust, to testify that in the Church of Christ one even gives one’s life, if necessary, but one will never cease to preach the truths of the Gospel in order to be more in keeping with the throne of false glory that the world offers.
Following their example, we are invited to recall the essence of the Church’s salvific mission, which is above all to proclaim the truth of the Gospel, striving for the salvation of souls. It is up to us to “in all things follow the teaching of those through whom she received the beginnings of right religion,”2 as the Collect prayer says.
Saints Peter and Paul, pray for the Holy Church! ◊
Notes
1 SAINTS PETER AND PAUL, APOSTLES. Mass during the Day. Entrance Antiphon. In: THE ROMAN MISSAL. English translation according to the 3rd Typical Edition approved by the USCCB and confirmed by the Apostolic See. Chicago: LTP, 2011, p.886.
2 Idem, Collect, p.886.
