Fathers of the New Rome

St. Agnes Catholic Church

Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul Apostles 

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062925-Mass.cfm 

The city of Rome is founded on a myth of twin infants, Romulus and Remus, who were raised and nursed by a she-wolf.  The two brothers grew, became shepherds in central Italy, and leaders of a growing community.  All was well until a dispute between the brothers arose over which of the seven Roman hills they should build their new city upon.   In anger, Romulus slew his brother Remus, and became king of the city and empire, Rome, which would be named for him.  In this way, Roman civilization was raised by wolves and founded in blood.  It was a legacy that would metastasize as the city became a republic, and the republic became an empire spanning three continents.  

Seven centuries after Rome’s legendary founding, another two men entered the Eternal City.  Like Romulus and Remus these two came to found a new community.  They were guided by a vision that would refashion the greatest empire in the world and have reverberations two centuries later.  These two men were saints Peter and Paul, and we celebrate their solemnity today.  

These two Fathers of this New Rome were not children of the wolf, but of the Lamb who was slain.  Yet these two brothers in Christ were about as different as could be.  Peter was from the country, a fisherman with rough hands, simple words, and a literal mind, but deep faith.   He had known Jesus from the beginning, being the second to answer his call.  As we heard in the Gospel today, Jesus called him “the rock on which I build my Church” and appointed him to lead the other apostles.  Paul, on the other hand, was urbane and cultured, a man of letters who had received an excellent education from the greatest rabbi of his age.  He travelled widely and used his delicate hands to write and to sew.  He did not meet Jesus before his resurrection and ascension.  Instead, he had a powerful encounter with the Risen Lord on the road to Damascus.  These two very different men were bold leaders of the Church.  

And yet, like Romulus and Remus, Peter and Paul disagreed with each other passionately.  Peter believed that Jesus’ new covenant was intended for Jews alone, just like the Law of Moses had been.  Paul disagreed, believing that Jesus came to redeem the whole world, including Gentiles, even the pagans of Rome who had stamped Israel under their boots.  

 At one point, Paul called Peter a hypocrite, and said, “I opposed him to his face because he clearly was wrong” (Galatians 2:11-14– the “Incident at Antioch.”). If these two brothers in Christ had been like Romulus and Remus, one of them would have dominated and killed the other.  The victor would have called himself Caesar and demanded to be worshiped as a god.  But the new Rome that Peter and Paul created was not born in the blood of their brothers, but in love, the love that they each had for one another and the love that they had Christ.  

In their dispute, Peter was convinced by Paul that the Gospel message was and is universal.  Paul was so persuasive, that Peter, too left Israel to preach to the Gentiles, going even to Rome to share it. 

As we consider these two men, we might think of people that seem completely different from us.  Peter and Paul appeared to be totally opposite from each other and completely incompatible, and yet they were stronger together.  The Church and the whole world because of their reconciliation and their partnership.  When they worked together for a common purpose, they made each other better and more complete.  

Who is it in our life that we say, “I could never work with that person.  She and I are like oil and water.”  Might we be rejecting a chance for a deeper   there is a hidden harmony that we cannot see.  

The most important quality that Peter and Paul shared is this: they believed that Christ could make them into the best versions of themselves.  That God was working in them and through them and was cooperating with them to transform the world.  This conviction led them to Rome, where they were both killed by the Emperor Nero, Peter was crucified upside down in the year 64.  Paul was beheaded three years later.

Peter and Paul are most frequently depicted hugging and kissing each other’s cheeks.  The Church choses to celebrate them together on June 29th—a shared feast day for these two saints.  As St. Augustine preached in a sermon: 

“Both apostles share the same feast day, 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.” 

And like Peter and Paul, let us hold fast to the idea that Christ can do incredible things with and through us if we believe in him.