Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul June 29, 2025
Fr. Alexander Albert St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville
Is a flower just a plant? Just a briefly living thing that withers and dies? Is a building just a composite of materials in a useful shape? In one sense, yes. In a far more important sense, no. Nothing is “just” that thing. A flower picked by a man in love and given to his beloved is obviously something more, but good luck in trying to measure that. In every culture, buildings are always more than just the shape and stuff. Why else do we use the word “home” to describe the house we live in? In September of 2001, everyone in the world knew there was far more at stake than the destruction of two large buildings. Flowers and buildings and mountains and cars and sunsets and songs… there is more to them than we think. There is more to you than you think.
This is something the world gets wrong about Catholicism, part of the reason they don’t understand how Catholics see the world. They don’t see the more that suffuses every person, every part of the world. Can I measure it? Can I use it? Can I make money off of it? Can it make me feel good? These are the kinds of questions the world asks. For so many things the answer to every one of those questions is “no, you cannot.” Sure, you can measure some things and use them to make money – and sometimes you really should – but if that’s all you see, then Catholicism, Christianity, Humanity itself will never make sense to you.
What am I talking about? I’m talking about Sacramentality. I’m talking about this capacity to see ourselves and the world around as visible signs of invisible realities. “Sacramentality” isn’t just about the 7 capital “S” sacraments – Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, and so on – it’s about the depth of a world created by an infinitely powerful, infinitely loving God. And grasping this idea is essential if you’re going to keep living this faith… it can grant a greater sense of purpose, a greater confidence in life… it can even help improve your sense of humor. Developing your sacramental vision is part of your life mission.
A “sacramental vision” is to see the world not just as what it is, but as signs of the God who created it. Beauty and order and life and so many other things that cannot be told to us by words are still being told to us through the sacramentality of the world.
Today’s feast points us to this reality. Sts. Peter and Paul were two men who died around 67 A.D. One was killed with a sword, the other crucified. Like so many others from that time, they were killed for being followers of Jesus. That is reason enough to celebrate their memory. Why, though, does this celebration become so important that it actually overrides a regular Sunday? What makes the martyrdom of Peter and Paul so important?
Because Peter and Paul are more than themselves. Through no merit of their own, Jesus sacramentalized them. He made them into visible signs of an invisible reality. “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah… I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church.” Peter – rock – church. Simon Peter is a unique human individual with his own struggles and virtues and who is in need of salvation just like any other human being. That’s always true. But Simon Peter is also more than that. The first pope, the leader of the Church, the visible sign of unity for the Body of Christ. To see Peter correctly, we have to have sacramental vision to see both the man and the sign… and we should be careful not to confuse those two.
Paul too is a sacramental sign. Right after knocking him to the ground and blinding him, Jesus appears to another man and tells him that Paul “is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and Israelites, and I will show him what he will have to suffer for my name.” Where Peter is the visible sign of unity, Paul is the visible sign of the Church’s mission to evangelize and the Church’s mission to suffer for the sake of Jesus. What happens to Peter and Paul doesn’t just happen to them as individual men – that is important and is part of how they get to heaven – but what happens to them also happens to the Church herself. Each in their own way, Peter and Paul are more than themselves. In a sacramental sense, they are the Church.
This is similar to what we mean when we say that a priest is Jesus when celebrating the sacraments. When I say “This is my body,” I am still me, but more importantly, I’m also Jesus. Now, for both priests today and Peter and Paul back then, this sacramentality doesn’t override the individual human beings. Peter, Paul, other priests and I – they had and we still have our human struggles and personal trials that should not be taken as proof that God has failed or that the Church has fallen.
That’s why, immediately after this sacramental investiture of Simon Peter, Jesus adds that “the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against” the Church established upon the rock that is Peter. We don’t read it today, but the very next passage shows Peter immediately falling short of his responsibility and being called “Satan” by Jesus who just called him “Peter.” Peter and Paul, you and I… we are more than ourselves, but we are also still ourselves. Our sins and weaknesses are our own. Those sins may make it harder to see the sacramental depths of reality, but this doesn’t mean that our sins somehow cause God himself to fail or that they destroy the deeper meaning of our lives.
What is the practical application of all of this? Perspective. What Jesus Christ asks of us is, quite frankly, impossible. “Take up your cross and follow me,” he says. “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” “Love your enemies.” “Forgive seven times seventy times.” When Peter asks Jesus, “who can be saved?” Jesus answers, “for human beings this is impossible.”
But that’s the point. You aren’t just a human being. You are a unique, unrepeatable, beloved human being with a personal journey only you can live. But you are also more. You are made in the image and likeness of God. By baptism and confirmation… by repeatedly receiving communion worthily, you are the Church. Not in the same way as Peter or Paul… but they also aren’t the Church in the same way as you. You are Jesus Christ to the world. Not in the same way as an ordained priest is Jesus Christ in the sacraments… but we aren’t Christ in the way you are. When Jesus says it’s impossible for human beings to be saved, he finishes that sentence by saying that “for God all things are possible.”
Why do Catholics follow popes when we have ample evidence that they’re no better than anyone else? Because, by God’s grace, he is more just as flowers and buildings and people are more. Why honor saints like Peter and Paul who are dead and buried so long ago? Because they, like all saints, are more. Why should you keep going despite your repeated sins, your weaknesses, failures, and ignorance? Because you are more. There is some aspect of God’s goodness only you can convey to the world. Even if we can’t point to it as clearly as we point to the special missions of Peter and Paul, even if no one in this life knows what it is, your sacramental existence is no less real. Jesus intends for you to shine with that unique glory forever.
This doesn’t mean you stop trying or that your sins don’t matter – both Peter and Paul fell hard and had to work at their ongoing conversion – but it does mean you are not alone in that effort. Paul’s preaching still speaks to you. Peter’s keys still offer you forgiveness. You are you and more. You are part of the Body of Christ, part of that Church built on solid rock. And the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.