29th June 2008
If you ever get a chance to visit Rome you will see many churches dedicated to the memory of the Apostles Peter, and Paul. In fact I would go as far as to say that you sense their presence as you walk down the old streets that they would have walked themselves. Today the Liturgy of this Sunday is dedicated to them because they are the two pillars of the Church of Rome that we all belong to. They were very different characters; Peter the first of the Apostles made his way to Imperial Rome after the Resurrection and was martyred there around the year 64 AD. Tradition tells us that he was crucified upside down and he is buried beneath the high Altar in St Peter's Basilica. Paul on the other hand came to Rome as a prisoner and he too bore witness to Christ, dying the death of a Martyr by being beheaded a few years after Peter. His remains rest beneath the High Altar in the Basilica of St Paul's outside the walls.
They are two very important people even for us today because they reveal so much of what faith should be about. Peter often depicted holding the keys of heaven and earth is the Rock on which the Church is built. A Rock is a symbol of stability and constancy able to withstand whatever comes. Faith often needs to be like that, particularly in our own day when all models of belief are seen as the same and people are seduced into all sorts of superstitions and fables. Paul, the great missionary whose letters we hear again and again reminds us that our faith must be spread far and wide. We as the Church can never be content with our own patch as it were. Even though they were so different one thing united them and that was their love for Jesus Christ, a love that at first was tested and was found wanting and yet a love that proved victorious in the end as they sowed the seeds of faith in the early days of the Church.
Yesterday in Rome the successor of Peter, Pope Benedict launched the great Pauline Year, a year which will celebrate the memory of the Apostle Paul. During the year the Disciples of Christ across the world will get a chance to truly reflect on St Paul and be able to see once again how his witness is there to be emulated. It is also a chance to see that though nearly 2000 years have passed since his birth those letters he wrote continue to have relevance in our lives today. May St's Peter and Paul whose Feast Day we celebrate today help us to follow Christ more concretely in our everyday lives. May their example and prayer help us to remain faithful. Amen.
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Homilies Archive
2009 HOMILIES
25th December 2008
Christmas
21st December 2008
14th December 2008
8th December 2008
Immaculate Conception
7th December 2008
2nd Sunday of Advent
30th November 2008
1st Sunday of Advent
23rd November 2008
Christ the King
16th November 2008
2nd November 2008
All Souls
1st November 2008
All Saints
26th October 2008
12th October 2008
5th October 2008
28th September 2008
21st September 2008
14th September 2008
7th September 2008
31st August 2008
24th August 2008
17th August 2008
15th August 2008
Assumption
10th August 2008
3rd August 2008
20th July 2008
13th July 2008
29th June 2008
22nd June 2008
1st June 2008
23rd March 2008
Easter Sunday
22nd March 2008
Easter Vigil
2nd March 2008
24th February 2008
17th February 2008
10th February 2008
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