One of my greatest delights, as an African studying at the Graduate Theological Union, is the diversity and wide range of opinion found there.  You share the same lecture room with people whose beliefs are absolutely different from yours, yet you listen and relate to each other with respect and decorum.  Recently, in a class on World Religions, a Protestant colleague in the class remarked: “The greatest problem with you Catholics is that you have a pope, and the greatest problem with us Protestants is precisely because we do not have a pope.”  I found his remark to be very interesting.

Saints Peter and Paul

Today, as Catholics, we celebrate the feast of Saints Peter and Paul.  It is an ancient feast, going back to around the year 250 A.D.  The two are honored because they are the two apostles about whom we know the most.  They were the greatest influence on the Church at its beginning.  As different from each other as chalk is from cheese, Saints Peter and Paul were referred to as “the two pillars of the Church,” “two lanterns” burning for Christ, illuminating the way to heaven.

Few points to note:

(1) A society cannot survive without structure, organization and leadership.  Today’s feast of the apostles Peter and Paul, especially today’s gospel, reminds us of the way Christ structured his Church with Peter as the head.  And this leadership is that of tending, taking care, shepherding, serving.  It is one of “pouring out self” for others, as St Paul echoes in our second reading.  Christians should not therefore be up in arms against leadership, for it is to be for the good of the entire body.

(2) The one who serves God should put his trust in God, and not seek security in money or worldly powers.  The first reading tells us how God rescued Peter from prison because he trusted and served God.  The psalm that follows is a prayer of a person praising God for rescuing them from fear and danger.  We could easily imagine Peter praying this psalm as he left prison.  Money, power, authority and human power,– all these fail.  But God never fails the one who trusts in Him.

(3) There is no one way of serving God.  Peter and Paul were different personalities: Peter was among the first disciples of Jesus, Paul was a later convert.  Peter preached mostly to fellow Jews; Paul went out to the Gentiles.  Paul wrote a lot; Peter was a better administrator.  But both served God to the best of their abilities.  I should be able to do my bit as a small priest from Africa; I must not be Pope.  You must not be a priest, but can be so pleasing in the eyes of God in your workplace.  And at the end of our lives, our song, like Peter and Paul, should be “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

Fr. Gabriel Wankar

Priest-in-Residence