Daily Reflections

June 29, 2011
GREAT THINGS COME IN PAIRS

Today we honor a pair of really great saints: Sts. Peter and Paul. Although both saints did have their differences and even conflicts with one another during their lifetimes, Christian art, architecture and liturgy (since the first century down to the present day) emphasize the bond of friendship between them.
Sts. Peter and Paul are associated with the city of Rome, where their tombs and basilicas are located. But in one not-so-well-known church in the city, the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo, you can find two marvelous paintings of the two saints, accomplished by the terrific 16th century painter Caravaggio. They are known with these titles: The Fall of St. Paul and The Crucifixion of Peter. A simple Internet search can help you visualize these. Contemplating them may even reveal an interesting contrast (and at the same time a complementariness) between two aspects of these two saints, and consequently two aspects as well of our Catholic Church.
The first is the scene of the conversion of Saul, more than just his fall from the horse. He is lying flat on his back, with arms outstretched, completely fallen on the ground. The second painting, is the scene of the inverted crucifixion of Peter. He is depicted as already positioned on his cross and being raised up. Some art experts and commentators say it is a symbol of Jesus’ founding of the Church upon the faith of Peter (today’s Gospel). And so, if in the first we have a falling down or a conversion, in the second it is a raising up.
Aren’t these two aspects also in all of us members of the Church? There is in us, and in the Church as a whole, both a falling down and a rising up, a conversion and an establishment. Sure, the Church is never without crises and reforms. But as the Jesuit theologian Gerald O’Collins pointed out, “If the Church is going to face satisfactorily the challenges posed by the forces that currently move and change the world, both fidelity and freedom are needed.” “ Fidelity and freedom”— now that’s another nice pair of good things. May Sts. Peter and Paul help us maintain them as well. Fr. Martin Macasaet, SDB

Reflection Question:
Identify one aspect in the life of Sts. Peter and Paul that you want to emulate.

Grant me, Lord, the grace to follow you radically as Sts. Peter and Paul did. Amen.

St. Mary, pray for us.