From Fr. Mark June 29

 From Fr. Mark                               

The vestments worn at mass during Ordinary Time are the color green. We have entered Ordinary time and yet this is the third Sunday that the priest has worn a color other than green. We have celebrated three Solemnity in a row: Trinity Sunday, The Holy Body and Blood of Christ and this weekend we are Celebrating the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. This day is a Holy Day of Obligation in many countries (but not in the United States.) But regardless, this day is a solemnity, the highest rank for a liturgical feast, and when it falls on a Sunday of Ordinary Time, as it does today, it outranks the Ordinary Sunday and is celebrated, instead.  

Why is the celebration of Peter and Paul a Solemnity and not a Feast as are the other apostles? Two of the most prominent figures in the early Church are St. Peter and St. Paul. The first pope and the author of the majority of the New Testament are celebrated by the Church on the same day. Many would question why arguably the two men most responsible for the spread of the early Church should be at least entitled to their own feast days. However, there is evidence that the feast days have been celebrated jointly by the Church all the way back to 395.

St. Augustine of Hippo spoke of the feast days being on the same day in a sermon he preached:

“Both apostles share the same feast days, for these two were one; and even though they suffered on different days, they were as one. Peter went first, and Paul followed. And so, we celebrate this day made holy for us by the apostles’ blood. Let us embrace what they believed, their life, their labors, their sufferings, their preaching, and their confession of faith.”

In addition to sharing the main feast day, the current Liturgical Calendar, revised in 1969, has an even number of feasts for Saints Peter and Paul. For Peter there is the Solemnity on June 29, then the Chair of St. Peter on February 22. St. Paul is celebrated on June 29 and January 25 for the Conversion of St. Paul. On November 18, there is an Optional Memorial for the Dedication of the Basilicas of Peter and Paul, again, with Peter and Paul sharing the same day.

            Before the revision of the calendar, there were several other feasts, but anytime there was a feast of St. Peter, there would be a commemoration of St. Paul on that day, and vice versa. Neither Saint would be excluded.

All this brings to mind St. Paul’s words to the Corinthians, from the very beginning there were tensions among the faithful, of choosing either Peter or Paul:

"I appeal to you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brethren. What I mean is that each one of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I am thankful that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius; lest any one should say that you were baptized in my name. For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Cor 1:10-18).

Of course our Liturgical Calendar doesn’t reflect a compromise to ease a division between two saints. The simplest and most enduring explanation for the shared feast is that tradition (with a small “t”) shows that St. Peter and St. Paul both were martyred by Emperor Nero on the same day in two different places around Rome. St. Peter was crucified upside down in Rome, and St. Paul was beheaded outside the walls of Rome (where each basilica is located).

And I believe the focus of celebration of this day is to find the common ground between these saints, as St. Leo the Great points out:

“There must be general rejoicing, dearly beloved, over this holy company whom God has appointed for our example in patience and for our confirmation in faith. But we must glory even more in the excellence of their fathers, Peter and Paul, whom the grace of God has raised to such a height among all the members of the Church that He has set them like twin lights of eyes in that Body whose head is Christ.

“About their merits and virtues, which surpass all power of telling, let us not make distinctions or draw comparisons; for both were chosen, they were alike in their labors, they were partners in death. But, drawing upon our own experience and upon the teaching of our forefathers, we believe and are sure that in the troubles in this life we must ask to be helped by the prayers of our special heavenly patrons in obtains God’s mercy; for as we are weighed down by our own sins, so are we raised up by the Apostles’ merits. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom together with the Father and the Holy Ghost is equal power and identical Divinity, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Sermon of Leo the Great, P.L. 54, Sermo 82).

St. Paul gives us the ability to have individuality while being a child of God. Peter gives us authority, power, and vigilance. They both represent for us the need to reach all men and women with the message of Christ and the need to protect and guard the Church and the truth which it holds.

Sts. Peter and Paul, pray for us.