BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (# 31)
Peter and Paul, Apostles, Year B – June 29, 2003
BIBLE READINGS
Acts 12:1-10 // II Tim 4:6-8, 17-18 // Mt 16:13-19
In May 2001, I made my annual retreat at the Maryknoll Ecological Sanctuary in the mountain city of Baguio, in the Philippines. The two American Sisters who hosted me were incredible in their goodness and hospitality. They lodged me in a pine-surrounded hermitage where they would bring hot food neatly and artistically packed in a wicker basket. I was even more impressed by their unlimited kindness when they entrusted me with the key to their own convent so that I could enter their oratory and pray. The key was a symbol of their goodness and trust. I felt personally responsible for it and guarded the trust that it symbolized. By the time I returned the key to the Maryknoll Sisters before I left for my return trip to Manila, a deep bond of friendship had been forged among us.
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Peter and Paul, apostles and pillars of the Church. The Gospel reading (Mt 16:13-19) speaks of the “keys to the kingdom of heaven” that Christ avowed to give to Peter after his remarkable confession of faith. Peter’s confession, which took place near Caesarea Philippi in northern Palestine, marked the initial step of the journey that would lead Jesus to his passion and death on the Cross. Peter’s confession, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” was made possible through divine revelation and his own personal openness and receptivity to the inspiration of the Father of Jesus. After having clarified that the heavenly Father is the one to thank for Peter’s faith, Jesus asserted: “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.”
Peter’s astounding messianic confession evoked an act of trust and confidence in Jesus who entrusted him with the power of authority and responsibility in the Church. According to the authors of the Days of the Lord: the Liturgical Year, vol. 7, page 181: “The Lord is going to depart. Until he returns, he entrusts to Peter the keys of the building that he has constructed and that remains his property. This is, even today, a symbolic way of entrusting one’s goods to another. It is an act of confidence: Whoever receives the keys of the house conducts himself not as a master, but as a steward.”
The authority and stewardship entrusted by Jesus to Peter entail responsibility and the freedom of personal discernment. Jesus’ words to Peter, “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” imply the role of imposing and canceling obligations with regards to what we owe to God and one another, as well as the responsibility of proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, often expressed in terms of “loosening the bonds of injustice,” “proclaiming liberty to the captives and the release to the prisoners” (cf. Is 42:7; 49:9; 58:6; 61:1). The biblical scholar Adrian Leske explains: “Peter (and the faithful in Mt 18:18) has the responsibility of opening the door of the kingdom to those who sincerely seek it but closing it to those who would destroy or abuse the bonds of community. What Peter ‘binds’ and ‘looses’ now on earth will be ratified by God (‘in heaven’).” The “power of the keys” entrusted by Jesus demands responsible decisions made in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The “keys to the kingdom” given in a preeminent way to Peter, as head of the apostles, is also given to the entire Church. According to St. Augustine: “It is because he all alone personified the Church that Peter had the joy of hearing this said to him: ‘I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.’ But in fact it was not to him as one man alone that the keys were given, but to the united Church. This emphasizes the preeminence of Peter, for he represents the universality and unity of the Church when it was said to him, ‘I will give to you,’ when actually those words meant that the keys were given to all.” The exercise of “the power of the keys” by the apostles and their successors is in view of the ministry of reconciliation for the forgiveness of sins. It is an expression of compassion and their responsible stewardship of Christ’s saving mystery.
Peter and Paul are the pillars of the Church for they are the radical expression of messianic faith and energetic apostolicity upon which the community of Christian believers is founded and grows. As apostles and martyrs, they have kept the faith that has been entrusted to them. The blood of their martyrdom that has fecundated the Church is an eloquent testimony that the power of death does not prevail. The apostle martyrs, Peter and Paul, are mirrors of the Church that is founded on the Risen Christ and built on the bedrock of messianic faith. They are limpid models for those who exercise special responsibilities in the Church on how to “stay the course” and remain faithful as stewards of salvation.
Peter and Paul differed in temperament, social, cultural and religious origin, but both were won over by Christ, to whom they gave their faith and love. The following ancient prayer from the Sacramentary of Verona summarizes the unique and complementary contributions of the apostles Peter and Paul in the Church.
Truly it is just and good to praise you, for in your Providence and your goodness you have given us this feast day on which we celebrate each year the triumph of the blessed Peter and Paul. The whole world venerates them as well, for, while one was the first called to the apostolate and the other the last, both have shared in the same grace and the same passion. The one may have been the first to confess the faith, but the other shone in its defense and its clarification. Inspired from above, the one proclaimed Christ the Son of the living God, but the other was chosen to recognize in this same Word the wisdom and the power of God. The one recruited the first community among the Jews, while the other became the Apostle and the physician of the nations. And so each in his own way, they brought together the unique family of Christ, and although they did not die at the same time, a same feast day and a same glory unites them forever.
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
Do we look upon Peter and Paul as models of what the Church is called to be and would be?
Do we imitate Peter and Paul in “staying the course” and remaining faithful to our mission as stewards of the mysteries of salvation, making ourselves unreservedly the messengers of God’s love?
As Church, how do we value “the keys to the kingdom of heaven” that has been entrusted to the universal Church personified by Peter? How do we respond to the task and the responsibility that it entails?
(From a prayer composed by Blessed James Alberione)
Leader: I bless you, Jesus Good Shepherd, for you have crowned the life of the holy apostles with a glorious martyrdom.
Assembly: And you, our guardians obtain for me the grace to exercise the apostolate of prayer, of good example, of suffering and of pastoral action, so as to obtain the reward prepared for good apostles. Amen.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 16:19)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
ACTON PLAN: Today offer one Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be for the special intentions of the Pope.
ACTION PLAN: Read prayerfully the second reading, II Tim 4:6-8, 17-18 and, based on this Pauline text, compose a personal prayer for modern-day apostles.