SOLEMNITY OF THE APOSTLES
SAINTS PETER AND PAUL
29 JUNE 2023
AT QUARR ABBEY
During our diocesan pilgrimages in Rome, visiting the most ancient churches in the City, we have often noticed the two arches, which usually open on the sanctuary. They are twin arches, close to each other. According to architectural tradition of the “chancel arch”, they represent the two Apostles, to whom this Solemnity is dedicated.
As we can see, it is so in this beautiful Church at Quarr Abbey: we have these twin arches, we have Peter and Paul, together, strongly settled at the entrance of the sanctuary in the light of the tower and they are opening us the way to the holy mysteries.
These two men have been personally chosen by Jesus Christ: Peter was a simple fisherman; Paul was profoundly educated in Judaism. Christ has changed their lives. As the preface sings: Peter “brings us joy as foremost in confessing the faith and Paul as its outstanding preacher”. Both have experienced their own weaknesses: the first denied three times his Master; the other persecuted the newborn Church. Both, by the grace of the Spirit came back with a humble love to Jesus, the Christ, whom both confessed to the end, both in Rome as martyrs.
They met, as the Acts of the Apostles relate. Paul after his conversion, and after a long time in the desert or away, visited him in Jerusalem three years later and stayed two weeks with him. However, their relationship was not an easy one – as it was between the great men Churchill and de Gaulle, who were great men, but no saints: “When Cephas came to Antioch, Paul writes to the Galatians, I did oppose him since he was manifestly in the wrong” (2, 11). But Peter himself acknowledges the grace given to Paul by the Lord, as he writes in his second Letter: “Do your best to live blamelessly, so that the Lord will find you at peace. Our brother Paul, who is so dear to us, told you this when he wrote to you with the wisdom that he was given, even if in all his letters there are of course some passages which are hard to understand” (3, 15-16). By their lives, as well as by their letters, both Peter and Paul show us the way of love. “You have not seen Jesus Christ, writes Peter, yet you love him; and still without seeing him you believe in him and so are already filled with a joy so glorious that it cannot be described” (1P 1, 8). “Life to me is Christ, and death is a gain”, says Paul to the Philippians (1, 21) and he adds: “Because of the supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, I count everything else as a loss” (3, 8).
So, when we enter this sanctuary, under these twin arches – that is to say very often –, we enter into the Mystery of that love with the keys of the kingdom of God given to Peter (Mt 16, 19), and with the key of knowledge (Lc 11, 52), which Paul is proud to hold (Ep 3, 4).
Today at Saint-Peter’s in Rome the new Archbishops receive the “pallium” from pope Francis. These “pallium” have been deposited on the tomb of saint Peter for several weeks: they are made from the wool of lambs woven by the Benedictine nuns of Santa-Cecilia in Trastevere. Originally worn by the Pope, as a sign of the plenitude of his pontifical office, it is now given to Metropolitans, since they share in something of that fullness in their Provinces. It is a special link with the Pope and an important responsibility. It is at Saint-Peter’s, on the feast of saint Peter, by the successor of saint Peter. For me, it was on June 29 th , 2007 with Benedict XVI.
Retired here, thanks to Abbot Xavier and to the dear Community, for a kind of second noviciate, I try being more dedicated to prayer, keeping at that deep level, in communion with the successor of saint Peter and the College of the Bishops, the “concern for all the churches”, as writes Paul to the Corinthians (2 Co 11, 28). To me for that, a great example was Benedict XVI who, for nearly ten years was silent and prayerful in the Vatican’s gardens, close to Saint-Peter’s, in the heart of the Church’s Mystery.