Saint Peter and Saint Paul, apostles - Solemnity
Commentary of the day
Saint Aelred of Rielvaux (1110-1167), Cistercian monk
Sermon 18, for the feast of Saints Peter and Paul ; PL 195, 298
"Upon this rock I will build my church"
“Though the earth and all who dwell in it quake, I have set firm its pillars” (Ps 74[75],40). All the apostles are pillars of the earth but, at their head, the two whose feast we are celebrating. They are the two pillars who support the Church with their teaching, their prayer and the example of their steadfastness. The Lord himself strengthened these pillars. For at first they were weak, completely incapable of supporting either themselves or others. And in this the Lord's great design appears: it they had always been strong people could have thought their strength came from themselves. That is why the Lord wanted to show what they were capable of before strengthening them, so that all might know their strength came from God... Peter was thrown to the ground by the voice of a mere servant... and the other pillar was very weak too: “I was once a blasphemer and persecutor and an arrogant man” (1Tm 1,13)...
Hence we must ought to praise these saints with all our heart: our fathers who bore such trials for the Lord's sake and who persevered with such determination. It is nothing to persevere in joy, happiness and peace. But this is what is great: to be stoned, scourged, struck for Christ (2Cor 11,25) and in all this to persevere with Christ. With Paul it is a great thing to be cursed and to bless, to be persecuted and to endure, to be slandered and to console, to be like the world's rubbish and to draw glory from it (1Cor 4,12-13)... And what shall we say of Peter? Even if he had undergone nothing for Christ, it would be sufficient to celebrate him today in that he was crucified for him... He well knew where he whom he loved, he whom he longed for was...: his cross has been his road to heaven.
GOSPEL COMMENTARY MT 16:13-19
A cry of the heart
Fr. Paul D. Scalia
The month of June is traditionally devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. During this time, the church calls us to reflect on His Heart as the symbol not only of His love for us but also of His loneliness and suffering due to our neglect. As He said to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, the apostle of the Sacred Heart: “Behold the heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming itself, in order to testify its love; and in return, I receive from the greater part only ingratitude.” Good words to consider on the solemnity of the Sacred Heart.
Then, just two days later this year, on the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, we hear a similar plaintive cry: “Who do you say that I am?” (Mt 16:15). Our Lord asks this question certainly to elicit Simon Peter’s profound confession of faith: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16). And we cannot overstate the doctrinal implications of the question and its necessary answer. But we should also hear His words another way — not as God quizzing men but as the God-Man appealing to men. We can hear them as a cry from a man’s heart — in this case, from the Sacred Heart.
“Who do you say that I am?” We all desire to be known by those we love. Love seeks to be reciprocated and therefore shared. Knowing the other and being known is essential. Thus we seek to console those we love by saying “I know” or “I understand.” Those words do not alleviate the pain or remove its cause. But they bring relief by assuring the suffering that they are not alone. Great pain can be endured if we know that we are accompanied by those who know and understand us. The greatest pain and loneliness come when one is not known, not understood.
Every man desires to be known by those he loves. And our Lord is no exception. “Who do you say that I am?” When He asks this question He had already been preaching, teaching and healing for some time. He had just heard — with dismay — the weak answer to His question, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” The crowds who followed Him so eagerly did not know Him. They thought He was someone else. So He turns to His closest friends, the apostles, His constant companions, and hoping to find some solace in their understanding — that they, at least, got it — He asks, “Who do you say that I am?”
The question has a corollary at the end of our Lord’s “bread of life” discourse. Watching the murmuring crowds abandon Him, He again turns to the apostles and asks, “Do you also want to leave?” (Jn 6:67). At that moment also His heart cries out for someone who would know and accompany Him. At that moment also Peter steps forward for all the apostles and consoles the Sacred Heart: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the holy one of God” (Jn 6:68-69).
“Who do you say that I am?” Our response to this question certainly determines our faith and our very salvation. But it also has great meaning for Our Lord’s Sacred Heart. Our faithful response consoles Him, brings some degree of relief to His loneliness and suffering. The Sacred Heart teaches us that coming to know Jesus Christ is not just a matter of catechesis or providing for our own salvation. Coming to know Him — indeed, merely desiring to know Him — comforts Him for all the neglect and indifference He suffers.
“Who do you say that I am?” We learn how to respond to this question from the two apostles who close out the month of June. St. Peter’s doctrinal response — “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” — shows that a simple act of faith pleases and consoles the one who came to give Himself to us. St. Paul’s intense longing — “That I may know Him,” (Phil 3:10) — teaches us that coming to know Jesus is ongoing. At no point should we stop desiring to know Him.
In a profound sense, Our Lord must suffer the loneliness of not being entirely known. No one can know Him perfectly. And yet, amazingly, our simple faith and our mere desire to know Him consoles His Sacred Heart. Peter’s inspired response and Paul’s longing brought Him genuine joy and consolation. May we imitate the apostles in our profession of faith and our striving to know Him more.
Fr. Scalia is Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde’s delegate for clergy.