O God, who on the Solemnity of the Apostles Peter and Paul give us the noble and joy of this day, grant we pray, that your Church may in all things follow the teaching of those through whom she received the beginnings of right religion.<\/i><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n The antiphon and Collect set the tone by noting our belief: the Church is built on the life, work and sacrifice of two men in collaboration with Christ. It is, as Benedict says, truth is one and symphonic (an idea taken from von Balthasar). How do we live this reality?<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n Today’s solemnity brings with it a wonderful remembrance of how God uses unsuspecting people to witness to his truth and power. The Pope has “traditionally” bestowed the pallium on the new archbishops as a sign of communion with him in serving the Church and a share in the Cross. North America has several new metropolitan archbishops who went to Rome to pray at the tombs of these Apostles<\/a> and to receive from the Holy Father this beautiful symbol of office.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n Two paragraphs below are taken from the Holy Father’s homily, but the entire text may be read here<\/a>:<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n In front of Saint Peter’s Basilica, as is well known, <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dear Metropolitan Archbishops, the Pallium that I have conferred on you will always remind you that you have been constituted in and for the great mystery of communion that is the Church, the spiritual edifice built upon Christ as the cornerstone, while in its earthly and historical dimension, it is built on the rock of Peter. Inspired by this conviction, we know that together we are all cooperators of the truth<\/u>, which as we know is one and “symphonic”<\/b>, and requires from each of us and from our communities a constant commitment to conversion to the one Lord in the grace of the one Spirit. May the Holy Mother of God guide and accompany us always along the path of faith and charity. Queen of Apostles, pray for us!<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" These are the ones who, living in the flesh, planted the Church with their blood; they drank the chalice of the Lord and became the friends of God. O God, who on the Solemnity of the Apostles Peter and Paul give us the noble and joy of this day, grant we pray, that your Church … Continue reading Saints Peter and Paul<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1710,2467],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27056"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27056\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nthere are two imposing statues of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, easily
\nrecognizable by their respective attributes: the keys in the hand of Peter and
\nthe sword held by Paul. Likewise, at the main entrance to the Basilica of Saint
\nPaul Outside the Walls, there are depictions of scenes from the life and the
\nmartyrdom of these two pillars of the Church. Christian tradition has always
\nconsidered Saint Peter and Saint Paul to be inseparable<\/u>: indeed, together, they
\nrepresent the whole Gospel of Christ<\/b>. In Rome, their bond as brothers in the
\nfaith came to acquire a particular significance. Indeed, the Christian
\ncommunity of this City considered them a kind of counterbalance to the mythical
\nRomulus and Remus, the two brothers held to be the founders of Rome. A further
\nparallel<\/u> comes to mind, still on the theme of brothers: whereas the first
\nbiblical pair of brothers demonstrate the effects of sin, as Cain kills Abel,
\nyet<\/b> Peter and Paul, much as they differ from one another in human terms and
\nnotwithstanding the conflicts that arose in their relationship, illustrate a
\nnew way of being brothers, lived according to the Gospel, an authentic way made
\npossible by the grace of Christ’s Gospel working within them<\/b>. Only by following
\nJesus<\/u> does one arrive at this new brotherhood: this is the first and
\nfundamental message that today’s solemnity presents to each one of us, the
\nimportance of which is mirrored in the pursuit of full communion<\/i><\/b><\/u>, so earnestly
\ndesired by the ecumenical Patriarch and the Bishop of Rome, as indeed by all
\nChristians.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n