Saints Peter and Paul, June 29, 2025
/Peter and Paul grew into their roles as disciples; so must we
Matthew 16: 13–19
When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Music Meditations
- Will You Come and Follow Me-William Bell
- All That I Am—Emmaus Music
- Here I am, Lord-St. Louis Jesuits
- More Love to Thee—Fernando Ortega
Preparation / Centering
If done in a group setting, the prompts are read aloud by the leader; otherwise a silent meditation.
Adapted from Sacred Space: The Prayer Book 2025
Presence of God:
Jesus, As I come to you today, fill my heart, my whole being, with the wonder of your sacred presence. Help me to become more aware of your presence in my life, and more receptive to that presence. I desire to love you as you love me. May nothing ever separate me from you.
[1-2 minutes of silence]
Freedom:
Jesus, Grant me the grace to have freedom of spirit. Keep me from being bound by desires and actions that are not good for me or others. Cleanse my heart and soul that I may live joyously in your love. Help me to learn from the saints Peter and Paul, who freed themselves fully to follow you
[1-2 minutes of silence]
Consciousness:
Where am I with God? With others in my life? What am I grateful for? Is there something I am sorry for, words or actions that have hurt others, and which I now regret? I take a moment to ask forgiveness of God and of those whom I have hurt. God, I give you thanks for your constant love and care for me. Keep me always aware of your presence in my life.
[2-3 minutes of silence]
Opening Prayer
(from the Mass for Sunday, June 29)
Peter raised up the church from the faithful flock of Israel. Paul brought your call to the nations, and became the teacher of the world. Each in his chosen way gathered into unity the one family of Christ. Both shared a martyr’s death and are praised throughout the world.
Grant, we pray, O Lord our God, that we may be sustained by the intercession of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, that, as through them you gave your Church the foundations of her heavenly office, so through them you may help her to eternal salvation, and through her, we may attain eternal salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit.
Companions for the Journey
Commentary from “Living Space”, a Service of the Irish Jesuits:
On this day we celebrate a special feast of the Church, symbolized by the two great Apostles, Peter and Paul. They were the two men around whom the mission of Jesus to establish the Kingdom was centered, and from whom it grew and spread to every corner of the world. As the preface for today’s Mass puts it:
“Peter raised up the church from the faithful flock of Israel. Paul brought your call to the nations, and became the teacher of the world. Each in his chosen way gathered into unity the one family of Christ. Both shared a martyr’s death and are praised throughout the world.
Peter and Paul represent two very distinct roles of the Church in its mission to the world.
Source of stability:
Peter represents that part of the Church which gives it stability.
its traditions handed down in an unbroken way from the very beginnings,
the structures which help to preserve and conserve those traditions,
the structure which also gives consistency and unity to the Church, spread as it is through so many races, cultures, traditions, and geographical diversity.
Peter today is represented by the pope, who is the great symbol of unity and continuity. Without his role, we would see the Church break up and disintegrate, which has happened to a large extent with those parts of the Church that broke away from the central body. A number of the mainline non-Catholic Christian churches realize today the importance of that central role of Peter and they are trying to find ways by which we could all become one Church again, ways by which diversity could be recognized, but divisions removed, that all who believe in Christ might find and express that unity (but not uniformity) for which Christ prayed during the Last Supper.
Prophetic role:
Paul, on the other hand, represents another key role, the prophetic and missionary role. It is that part of the Church which constantly works on the edge, pushing the boundaries of the Church further out, not only in a geographical sense, but also pushing the concerns of the Church into neglected areas of social concern and creatively developing new ways of communicating the Christian message. This is the Church which is semper reformanda, a Church which needs to be constantly renewed.
This renewal is spurred on by the Church’s contact with the surrounding world. This world is itself changing and, in our own times, changing with bewildering speed. Not only new technologies, but new knowledge, new ideas and new thinking continue to surface. Our rapidly changing societies call on us to express the core of our faith in new ways.
As a theologian once said, “The world writes the agenda for the Church.” That does not mean that the Church is to conform to the ways of the world—quite the contrary. What it does mean is that the Church’s evangelising work has to be in response to where people actually are. It is no good just handing out the same old things in the same old way. If the Church is to remain relevant, if it is to continue speaking in a meaningful way to a rapidly changing world, if it is to keep up with the new knowledge and ideas which change our ways of understanding the world in which we live, it has to renew itself constantly in the way it:
expresses its message,
structures itself,
communicates its message,
dialogues with the world.
The world may not like what the Church has to say, but it should be able to understand it and be stimulated by it.
New challenges:
A changing world involves new challenges to our ideas of what is right and wrong. A changing world brings about new social problems, new forms of poverty, of injustice, of exploitation and discrimination, of lack of freedom and the absence of peace.
Hence there have to be new ways of preaching and witnessing to the Gospel of truth, of love, of justice, of freedom, of peace. For this we need the prophetic role of the Church, built on the foundations of tradition and continuity. We have to avoid the two tendencies either of digging in and looking only to the past, or of neglecting the traditions and bringing in innovations with no foundations.
When faced with difficult situations, Catholics tend either to dig in and become fundamentalist, or to throw in the towel completely. Neither is helpful either to the Church or to society.
God’s accompanying presence
The readings today emphasize the presence of God in the work of his Church. Peter’s faith and acknowledgment of Jesus as the Messiah-Christ and Savior-King are rewarded by his being made the foundation on which Christ will build his Church. Through Peter, Jesus gives his Church a guarantee of never-ending protection. And he gives to Peter, as his representative, the powers which he himself had received from the Father, the “keys of the Kingdom”.
Through the centuries, the Church has been battered and countless efforts made to wipe it out, but it continues to benefit from Christ’s promise to grow in numbers. And as long as it remains faithful to the principles it received from Christ, principles which are of the very nature of God, and consonant with the deepest longings of human nature, it cannot fail. Truth and love cannot be suppressed.
Peter: doing the only thing possible:
We see this constancy of the Church in the First Reading, where Peter is thrown into jail for preaching the message of Christ and the Kingdom. As Paul, who was himself in prison more than once, will say later, the word of God cannot be bound. Peter finds release and then goes back to the only thing he can do—proclaiming the message of his beloved Master. The miraculous release from prison symbolizes that protection over his Church which Jesus had promised in the Gospel. It is significant too that Peter’s imprisonment occurred during Passover week, the same week in which Jesus himself was arrested and suffered.
Paul: a well-spent life
Paul in the Second Reading speaks first with gratitude of how his life has been spent in the service of his Lord:
I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.
May we be able to say the same as we approach the end of our life.
Paul also speaks of how God continued to protect him through all kinds of trials and persecutions:
…the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the gentiles might hear it.
He too knows that the Lord will continue to protect him, but he also knows that when his time comes, he is ready to go.
Paul’s love for Jesus is so intense that he finds it difficult to choose between staying alive and working for the Kingdom, or dying and being reunited with Jesus, his beloved Lord. As he said once in a memorable phrase:
For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. (Phil 1:21)
In either case, he is with his beloved Lord.
Ever old, ever new:
As we celebrate this feast today, let us both remain faithful to the traditions which have come down to us over 2,000 years ago, and at the same time, be ever ready to make the necessary changes and adaptations by which the message of Christ can be effectively communicated to all those who still have a hunger for that truth and love which over the centuries never changes.
Let us pray today:
for the whole Church all over the world,
for our pope as the focus of unity for Christians everywhere,
for those who, while remaining faithful to the core traditions, are creatively finding new ways to proclaim the message of the Kingdom to people everywhere,
for those places where the Church is working under great difficulties,
for our own parish community, that it may truly be loyal to the faith of our fathers,
to have a true missionary spirit, effectively to proclaim Christ to all those among whom we live.
In other words, what agenda is our local society writing for our local church?
Weekly Memorization
Taken from the gospel for today’s session…
Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah.
Living the Good News
What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?
Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:
Reflection Questions
Who, exactly, do I think Jesus is?
What does that mean for me?
Does my everyday life give witness to my faith in Jesus?
In the Matthean account, Peter recognizes Jesus as the anointed one, “Son of God”. In the old testament, this title did not refer to divinity, but to someone who had a special relationship with God. How often do we let later trinitarian theology influence our reading of this passage?
What exactly, do I think Peter meant?
Did Peter’s conviction ever falter while Jesus was alive?
How did Jesus react?
How would I react if someone denied knowing me, when she at one time had declared that she knew me very intimately?
Would I ever trust him again?
Would I entrust her with my memory and legacy?
Peter was impulsive, quick to anger, often clueless, and when it counted, was a coward.
What did Jesus see in Peter that let Him feel comfortable entrusting His mission to him?
What stories of Peter’s courage, guidance, maturity and wisdom show up after Jesus’s return to the Father?
What, particularly, do I admire about Peter?
Does it surprise you that Peter was never called “Pope” in his lifetime?
Paul’s stubbornness, his self-promotion and his need to prove that he was ultimately right shows up in the New Testament. His good qualities of courage, a gifts for preaching, concern for his “people” come through as well.
Why do I think God chose Paul for this extensive missionary and conversion mission?
What qualities do I admire about Paul?
Peter and Paul both suffered for their religious convictions and activities. Who, in history, have suffered at the hands of authorities for their religious beliefs?
Who, in our own time, are suffering for their religious beliefs?
From “Faith Book”, a service of the Southern Dominican Province:
Who or what have most challenged my faith in Jesus?
What response did I make to that challenge?
Was I aware of the presence of God helping me make that response?
Have I ever felt discriminated against because of what I professed to believe?
How did I react?
Paul changed the Church by preaching to and welcoming Gentiles to become believers. Was this a good idea?
How open are we as Church to welcome those whose religious ideas and customs may differ from ours?
The early Church had a hard time changing the rules to accommodate changes in the demographics of their followers.
Has our Church ever changed its rules to adapt to the times in which it operated?
How do I feel about changes in some Church rules—are they too fast, or too slow in responding to the needs of the people?
Both men were very different at the end of their lives than they were as younger men. Do I see the possibility for moral and spiritual growth in my own life?
How can I be sure that I am on the right trajectory?
Do have to be perfect in order to live out my mission in life?
Meditations
A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:
This feast is not just about martyrdom; it is about the growth that took place in these men that gave them the strength and resolve to face martyrdom, knowing that they had grown into their mission gradually throughout their lives. We met Peter in the gospels, and he seemed to be brash, impulsive, clueless, sometimes arrogant and boastful, and even cowardly. He even denied he knew Jesus at the end of Jesus’ life. What did Jesus even see in this man? What he saw was love, and potential for leading a fledgling community into becoming Church.
Paul was not on the scene, as far as we know, during Jesus’ lifetime. We met him in Acts of the Apostles where, as Saul, he participated in the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr, and participated in scenes where he persecuted and tried to obliterate some of those early Christian communities. We also got to know Paul through his letters to the communities he had founded and nurtured. Sometimes there is a disconnect between the two sources of Paul’s life, but there is no doubt that his conviction about right and wrong at first led him to some very unkind and sometimes cruel acts. It would appear that he was not always the easiest person to get along with—sometimes demanding, sometimes judgmental, always difficult, always argumentative. Yet he was responsible for the opening of Christianity to non-Jews, and to the relaxing of the very rules he had campaigned to uphold in his earlier life. He travelled tirelessly throughout Turkey, Greece, and other Roman territories, living simply, preaching effectively, enduring prison and other punishment in order to spread the message of Christianity to those far and near.
We would not be the Church we are today without the steadfastness and wisdom of Peter and the vision and fearlessness of Paul.
As we each assess where we are in our faith journey we need to ask ourselves what the arc of that journey looks like. What is my vision? Where have I failed? Where have I succeeded? How can I do better? What will help me to grow in these qualities that are needed to build up the kingdom? I take these questions and their answers to Jesus.
A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship:
My departure is at hand.
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith…..
The Lord stood by me and gave me strength…
the Lord will rescue me from every evil threat and will bring me safe to His heavenly kingdom.
Amen.
When my husband was coming to the end of his life, he chose the readings for his own Memorial Mass. The second reading was the same as the one we read this Sunday, and through this choice he expressed how he had dealt with the diagnosis of a terminal brain tumor, and how he had wanted to make of his days here on earth a testimony to his faith in God, to the presence of God in giving him strength throughout his 16-month illness. He was at peace knowing that he did the very best he could in living out his final mission, which was to show others how to face death with joy, dignity, and belief in the goodness of God.
Read the entire passage from 2 Timothy 4:6-8. 17-18, written from Rome when Paul had no hope of rescue and was facing the end of his mission and his life. It is obvious that this is not the brash, confident and assertive Paul we witnessed throughout much of his life. His life was a trajectory of growth in humility, wisdom and trust, and Paul was a very different man as he faced martyrdom than the Paul we met as Saul in Acts of the Apostles.
This is not just a reading for those at the end of our lives. It is good reminder that we do not know exactly where we are in this journey of life. Where are you in your life’s journey? Transpose the words of this reading to the second person (you), as if you were speaking to Jesus Himself. Speak to God about your spiritual journey, sharing with God your moments of joy, of failure, of redemption and growth. Use this prayer you have composed as reminded that God is not done with you yet.
Poetic Reflection:
This is a wise "final analysis" perspective on life, relayed from Kent Keith to us by Mother Teresa. This poem hangs on the Wall of one of her orphanages in India:
DO IT ANYWAY
People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind,
people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful,
you will win some false friends and some true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank,
people may cheat you.
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building,
someone could destroy overnight.
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness,
they may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today,
people will often forget tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have,
and it may never be enough.
Give the best you've got anyway.
You see,
in the final analysis it is between you and God;
it was never between you and them anyway.
Poetic Reflection:
“The Cloud of Unknowing”, by John of the Cross, draws on the mystical tradition of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, which focuses on the via negativa road to discovering God as a pure entity, beyond any capacity of mental conception and so without any definitive image or form. This tradition has reputedly inspired generations of mystical searchers from John Scotus Erigena, through Book of Taliesin, Nicholas of Cusa and St. John of the Cross to Teilhard de Chardin (the latter two of whom may have been influenced by "The Cloud" itself).
The practical prayer advice contained in The Cloud of Unknowing forms a primary basis for the contemporary practice of centering
prayer, a form of Christian meditation developed by Trappist monks William Meninger, Basil Pennington and Thomas Keating in the 1970s.
For today, it can also reflect the spiritual journey of Saints Peter and Paul.
The Cloud of Unknowing
I came into the unknown
and stayed there unknowing
rising beyond all science.
I did not know the door
but when I found the way,
unknowing where I was,
I learned enormous things,
but what I felt I cannot say,
for I remained unknowing,
rising beyond all science.
It was the perfect realm
of holiness and peace.
In deepest solitude
I found the narrow way:
a secret giving such release
that I was stunned and stammering,
rising beyond all science.
I was so far inside,
so dazed and far away
my senses were released
from feelings of my own.
My mind had found a surer way:
a knowledge of unknowing,
rising beyond all science.
And he who does arrive
collapses as in sleep,
for all he knew before
now seems a lowly thing,
and so his knowledge grows so deep
that he remains unknowing,
rising beyond all science.
The higher he ascends
the darker is the wood;
it is the shadowy cloud
that clarified the night,
and so the one who understood
remains always unknowing,
rising beyond all science.
This knowledge by unknowing
is such a soaring force
that scholars argue long
but never leave the ground.
Their knowledge always fails the source:
to understand unknowing,
rising beyond all science.
This knowledge is supreme
crossing a blazing height;
though formal reason tries
it crumbles in the dark,
but one who would control the night
by knowledge of unknowing
will rise beyond all science.
And if you wish to hear:
the highest science leads
to an ecstatic feeling
of the most holy Being;
and from his mercy comes his deed:
to let us stay unknowing,
rising beyond all science.
—John of the Cross
Poetic Reflection:
Read the following poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson about Ulysses, reflecting on his life’s journey. Where are you in your life journey?
Ulysses
It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.
I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees: All times I have enjoy'd
Greatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when
Thro' scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea: I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known; cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honour'd of them all;
And drunk delight of battle with my peers,
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.
I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'
Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades
For ever and forever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!
As tho' to breathe were life! Life piled on life
Were all too little, and of one to me
Little remains: but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself,
And this gray spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.
This is my son, mine own Telemachus,
To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle,—
Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfil
This labour, by slow prudence to make mild
A rugged people, and thro' soft degrees
Subdue them to the useful and the good.
Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere
Of common duties, decent not to fail
In offices of tenderness, and pay
Meet adoration to my household gods,
When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.
There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail:
There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners,
Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me—
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
Free hearts, free foreheads—you and I are old;
Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;
Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,
'T is not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Closing Prayer
Litany Teach me to go to this country beyond words and beyond names. Teach me to pray on this side of the frontier, here where these woods are. I need to be led by you. I need my heart to be moved by you. I need my soul to be made clean by your prayer. I need my will to be made strong by you. I need the world to be saved and changed by you. I need you for all those who suffer, who are in prison, in danger, in sorrow. I need you for all the crazy people. I need your healing hand to work always in my life. I need you to make me, as you made your Son, a healer, a comforter, a savior. I need you to name the dead. I need you to help the dying cross their particular rivers. I need you for myself whether I live or die. It is necessary. Amen.
From Thomas Merton, A Book of Hours (p. 67). Ave Maria Press – A.
