Word to the Wise
Wednesday, June 29, 2011 - June 29 - Sts. Peter and Paul, Apostles, Mass during the Day
[Acts 12:1-11; 2 Tim 4:6-8, 17-18; Matt 16:13-19,1214]I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his appearance. The Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the proclamation might be completed and all the gentiles might hear it. [2 Timothy] You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church....I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. [Matthew]
Saints Peter and Paul stand as giants among the heroes of the early church. There are many ways in which this might be demonstrated but I'll confine myself to two of them this morning! The first is in terms of the two men as historical figures. All the accounts we have speak of both men as having very strong personalities. Both men come across as rather emotional and forceful. Jesus picks Peter to be the principal figure in his group of apostles [cf. the gospel for today]. Jesus also picks Paul, but in an entirely different way, and creates an entirely different dimension to the preaching of the gospel - the mission to the gentiles. There are scripture scholars and theologians who argue that St. Paul "re-invented" Christianity and that it is his version of it that survived! I'm not so sure of that, but anyone who has the kind of impact that would give rise to such a theory is definitely a force to be reckoned with!
The second way in which these two "giants" impact the Church is that they have come to symbolize very different but complementary ways of preaching the gospel. The terms "Petrine" and "Pauline" have come into being to characterize different aspects of the Church. "Petrine" refers primarily to the leadership institutionalized in the hierarchy of Pope and bishops and all who work with them in creating and preserving the structures which make unity of faith and mission possible. "Pauline" refers to the ministry which gathers the gifts of all to preach the gospel wherever they may be - sometimes without the support or even the existence of local or national church structures. These two facets of the church are occasionally in tension with one another but that tension is, one hopes, a "creative" tension. I have in mind the ministry of St. Catherine of Siena in the time of a very corrupt papacy. Pope John Paul II had a way of making use of both aspects. His longevity in office (26 years) meant a lot of decisions about the governance of the church [lots to debate about there, as in any government] and his international travel [he really knew how to turn on his "charisma" and reach out to people. No surprise, given that he was an avid dramatist as a young man.]
Today, newly appointed archbishops from around the world will gather in Rome to receive a symbol of their office called a "pallium." This piece of cloth should remind them that their ministry will be incomplete if they ignore or neglect Peter or Paul. From all that I've learned about either of those two guys, they were and are personalities that are very difficult to ignore! AMEN