Pillars of the Church

Today we celebrate the feast of the martyrdom of Saints Peter and Paul. I find it interesting that these two men share a feast day. Meanwhile, and this is no knock on him, St. Argymirus gets his own day, June 28th. Are you familiar with St. Argymirus? Me neither. But if you ask any Christian, chances are they can tell you quite a bit about Peter and Paul. These two men, pillars of our Church, share a day. I suppose that's because they both gave so much, yet so differently to the formation of Christianity. This goes to show that we're all in this together and we need to appreciate the different strengths and failings of one another.

I read this about P&P: Peter and Paul represent two strikingly different approaches to discipleship. Peter, our first pope had to learn slowly, make many mistakes along the way, but always experienced the compassionate forgiveness and encouragement of Jesus. Paul, on the other hand, came to the Faith immediately and never backed away from his zeal for Christ after that. Many of us can see both these great Apostles in ourselves. Like Peter, we sometimes fail yet persevere. Like Paul, we must always be on fire for the Lord, and proclaim Him to everyone and in every situation, no matter how difficult it can sometimes be to do so.

If you identify with Peter or Paul, or both, I encourage you to take sometime today to reflect on their journeys of faith and ask them to pray for you. Ask Peter to pray that your faith will increase or that you'll show more perseverance when tested. Ask Paul for help in witnessing to a friend or ask him to pray for a conversion in someone. They are so real in their sufferings, failings and trials, but more than anything, Peter and Paul loved Jesus. They would do anything in their power to get just one more person to know Him. If we can live each day like Peter and Paul then I think we'll be doing ok.

- Abby

OH! - and have you read about the testing on the bones of St. Paul? Off the AP Wire yesterday: "The first-ever scientific test on what are believed to be the remains of the Apostle Paul 'seems to confirm' that they do indeed belong to the Roman Catholic saint, Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday." Read the whole article here. This was released just after an article about scientists finding what they believe to be the oldest image of Paul. Pretty neat stuff!