Saint PeterSaint Peter
Simon, surnamed Peter by our Lord, was a poor fisherman of Bethsaida, owning a boat on the Sea of Galilee and depending for his living upon his nets and his skill in throwing them. His brother Andrew lived with him at Bethsaida, a small fishing village, which our Lord had denounced for its hardness of heart and unbelief. Theirs was a rough life, with many dangers, little rest, and no comforts.
When John the Baptist drew men to him on the Jordan ford, Simon and Andrew came south to hear him and to be baptized. And it was well they did, for there they met Jesus, and there they were called to be His disciples. Andrew met Him first and brought Simon to Him. Picture the two men to yourselves - middle-sized, weather-beaten, uncouth of speech and gesture, yet of gentle nature, energetic, steady of purpose, loyal and time. And beside them see our Lord, emaciated from His late fast, with the sad, sweet look that told of love and suffering, with the bands that showed Him also to be a Man of toil. His garments, like those of His companions, were of the laborers' color and quality. But there was about Him a majesty and serenity which distinguished His from mere human manhood. He was one to draw all hearts, and Simon and Andrew followed Him spellbound.
No need have we to go through Peter's life for the next three years, we know it so well. They were years of wonderful peace and happiness, of child-like trustfulness, of learning and feeling the things of God. We hear in memory Simon's impetuous outbursts, we hear the chiding be receives from his Master, but we hear also the wonderful call: "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." We bear our Lord pray for him specially, that being once converted he may confirm his brethren. We see Peter shrink from suffering, fly from danger, deny his Master, in abject terror. We see him at our Lord's feet, wiping away the three-fold denial by a threefold act of love: "Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I love Thee."
Then the Master is called away, and the novena-days pass and the Holy Ghost comes down upon Peter and spiritualizes all his good, and ennobles all his purely natural. Henceforth we see him another being - strong in temptation, joyful in suffering, courageous in danger. We see him stand before the Sanhedrin with the dignity of an ambassador and speak with bold firmness before the awe-inspiring council, and we see him leave the hall a scourged man, rejoicing with great joy. This is the Head of our Church, Christ's first Vicar upon earth - a man with a man's failings, a saint with a jurisdiction beyond all others upon the earth, the custodian of that most priceless of all treasures, religious truth; a man with an inheritance and with heirs promised to the end of time.
Saint Paul
Saint Paul, whose former name was Saul, was called "the Apostle of the Gentiles," "one born out of due time," as he says of himself - that is, an apostle-elect, without the privilege of personally knowing our Lord. He was born at Tarsus, "no mean city"; be enjoyed the rights of a Roman citizen, was brought up at the feet of the great Gamaliel, in Jerusalem, the city of Jewish thought and culture; he was highly refined, gifted with eloquence and with winning ways; a man learned in the law, a Pharisee. A very different figure is this from Peter, the rude fisherman. The call of the two Apostles was different too. Saul was struck to the ground when in the midst of a sinful course, and was changed from a persecutor to the propagator of the Christian religion. He received his teaching mainly from divine inspiration; be was endowed with all the gifts of the Holy Ghost, and received the command to preach the Gospel to all nations.
Saint Peter and Saint Paul - how different they are! And yet they are blessed with the same high calling, chosen to the same end, the spread of the Gospel, the witnessing to our Lord before king and governors. And the one we should hardly have thought a worthy representative of the growing Church is chosen its Head, its Foundation-stone. We, in our wisdom, would have looked to the fitness of things, and have chosen for so exalted an office a refined, cultured, eloquent man, a man of some standing, like Saint Paul, not a rude fisherman, a man with a dialect, a Galilean. Well, we learn many things from the Gospel, and this is not the least: to distrust our own judgment. The fisherman was chosen and has been honored for nearly two thousand years as God's own Vicar upon earth, Rome's first Pontiff.
But if we look nearer into the hearts of the two Apostles we see there is as much resemblance as there is contrast. There is the same large heart overflowing with love for mankind, the same naturally impulsive disposition; there is the same energy and self-forgetfulness, the same burning zeal for the good of all men, the same joy in suffering for Christ. It was fitting they should die together and be honored together. In the persecution of Nero - June 29, tradition says - Saint Peter was crucified with his head downwards; on the same day Saint Paul, protected still by his Roman privilege, was beheaded outside the walls of Rome. Together in martyrdom, together they share the splendid tombs within and without the Eternal City, and throughout Christendom the honor of the universal Church - Paul as the Apostle of the Gentiles, Peter as Supreme Pontiff, first Bishop of Rome.
This is a rough sketch, but materials for study are within reach of all. To know Saint Peter well we should read the Gospels carefully, note the passages in which his name occurs, and ponder them; then read the first part of the Acts and see him a glowing Apostle, with miraculous gifts, and the unction of the Holy Ghost. And then turn to his epistles - they complete the picture and show his heart. The same little book - the New Testament - will tell us all there is to be known about Saint Paul. Begin with the second part of the Acts and make your notes. Then - but the task is a long one - take his epistles and study the saint in them. They will repay you as no light reading ever did. You will find matter there for imagination, heart and head.
- taken from Light from the Altar, edited by Father James J McGovern, 1906