The Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles
Did the Son of God have to become human? This question sounds academic but is worthy of everyone’s thought. Might God have led humans out of sin by a way other than the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ? The doctors of the Church answer “no.” Human disobedience sin was so egregious that only someone commensurate with God but like us in nature could atone for it. Some of these doctors go on to say that God may also have become human just out of goodness. He wanted to express His love for us in the most intimate way.
In the same way we might speculate whether it was necessary for Sts. Peter and Paul to come to Rome. Although there is not the same necessity for establishing the church in Rome as in having the Incarnation, there is a parallel reason. In the first century Rome was the center of much of the world. If the message of Christ was to proceed to all nations, it would have its greatest bounce from Rome. Indeed, Rome gave impetus for the evangelization of the world as the blood of the two greatest apostles was shed there.
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul. It is the patronal feast of Rome where most everyone takes a holiday. The rest of the world sees the feast as a way to contemplate the authority of the pope, the bishop of Rome. Like Peter he is the symbol of unity of the Church. Like Paul he has the commission to assure the spread of the gospel. In the United States we will wait until next week for a holiday. Today, however, we joyfully thank God for these two saints.
Homilette for Thursday, June 28, 2007
Thursday, XII Ordinary Time
(Matthew 7)
In a movie depicting life in the Bronx during the 1960s a man of experience advises a teenage boy how to determine if his date would be a worthy girl friend. He says that the boy should open the car door for the girl to let her in. Then if she doesn’t reach over to unlock the door on the driver’s side, she is self-centered and should be dropped therewith. The advice is not unlike the test that Jesus provides in the gospel for those worthy of heaven.
Jesus warns about praying a lot -- saying “Lord, Lord” -- but doing nothing to indicate fidelity. He is critical also of striving to accomplish remarkable feats but lacking humility and innocence. On judgment day Jesus says that he will be looking for those who have each day practiced his standards of perfection. It’s a tall order, of course, but Jesus will send us the Holy Spirit so that we might fill it.
This gospel passage ends the Sermon on the Mount, the so-called blueprint of the Christian life. It has introduced a new kind of morality – one not based exclusively on outward acts or only on inner prayer. No, for Jesus thought, word, and deed all have to be beyond reproach. In outlining the new morality Jesus has shown himself to be a greater lawgiver than Moses. The latter only brought God’s law on tablets from the mountaintop. Jesus, on the other hand, shows himself to be the actual lawgiver -- the one who speaks as God with his own authority.
(Matthew 7)
In a movie depicting life in the Bronx during the 1960s a man of experience advises a teenage boy how to determine if his date would be a worthy girl friend. He says that the boy should open the car door for the girl to let her in. Then if she doesn’t reach over to unlock the door on the driver’s side, she is self-centered and should be dropped therewith. The advice is not unlike the test that Jesus provides in the gospel for those worthy of heaven.
Jesus warns about praying a lot -- saying “Lord, Lord” -- but doing nothing to indicate fidelity. He is critical also of striving to accomplish remarkable feats but lacking humility and innocence. On judgment day Jesus says that he will be looking for those who have each day practiced his standards of perfection. It’s a tall order, of course, but Jesus will send us the Holy Spirit so that we might fill it.
This gospel passage ends the Sermon on the Mount, the so-called blueprint of the Christian life. It has introduced a new kind of morality – one not based exclusively on outward acts or only on inner prayer. No, for Jesus thought, word, and deed all have to be beyond reproach. In outlining the new morality Jesus has shown himself to be a greater lawgiver than Moses. The latter only brought God’s law on tablets from the mountaintop. Jesus, on the other hand, shows himself to be the actual lawgiver -- the one who speaks as God with his own authority.
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