This weekend we celebrate the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. When a solemnity falls on a Sunday, the solemnity takes precedence. This week we Lectio the Liturgy with the Collect for the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Mass During the Day.
O God, who on the Solemnity of the Apostles Peter and Paul give us the noble and holy joy of this day, grant, we pray, that your Church may in all things follow the teaching of those through whom she received the beginnings of right religion. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
When I first saw that we get to celebrate this solemnity this weekend, my first response was “This will be fun!” and that’s exactly what the collect says, too. On this day, we acknowledge that God has given us noble and holy joy because we are celebrating Peter and Paul.
Noble is an interesting way to describe our joy. Noble is defined as distinguished, or of special status. Our joy should also be holy. Why? Because today we venerate two men who were at the beginning of the Church - Peter and Paul, formerly known as Simon and Saul.
Simon answers Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?” with an answer given to him by the Father, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus then looks Simon square in the eyes and tells him, “I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church… I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.”
Keys to the kingdom can be found in Isaiah 22 where we see God tell the unworthy Master of the Palace, Shebna, that he will be replaced by Eliakim, who will do things right.
What does that have to do with a kingdom? The Master of the Palace, who controls a kingdom for a king, is given a symbol of authority, which is a key. The key gives him the power to open and close doors for the people. The Master of the Palace controls access to the king himself.
With his profession of faith, Peter is made the Master of the Palace of the Kingdom of God on earth.
Saul must have been annoying. Anywhere Christians went, he set out to get them. Well, until the day a heavenly spotlight shone on him and he fell to the ground. As he sat in his blindness for three days, I often wonder what he thought about. Did he have any idea on how his life would change?
Saul had two given names. The Hebrew name given him by his parents was Saul, however, He also had a Latin name, Paul, because his Father was a Roman citizen. (Acts 16:37, 22:25-28)
Perhaps to make the Gentiles feel more at ease to open up and listen to him he decided to be called Paul. His name change was a success as Paul became one of the greatest missionaries the Church has ever known. (While we don’t need to change our name, it does make one wonder what we can do to be a better evangelizer!) While Peter guarded the Church, Paul converted many to Christianity and brought them to the Church.
In this week’s Collect, we pray that we, the Church, may follow the teaching of Peter and Paul. Through them, the Church received the beginnings of right religion.
It is important to know that right religion does not mean denomination. Used here, religion means a sense of reverence or regard for the Sacred. Both, Peter and Paul, taught their world then, and ours today, to recognize the Messiah. They call us to leave behind that which is not the true faith. They call us follow the same Christ as they did.
Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.