This weekend we celebrated the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, two men who were called by Christ to go out and bring the Good News to the world. Two very different men, called in different ways.
Peter was once a disciple of John the Baptist who was directed by John to follow Jesus. Paul was against this man Jesus who was, in his mind, turning people away from God. Yet we have benefitted from the preaching and teaching of them both. Peter is the "Rock" upon whom Jesus built his church and Paul is the Apostle to the Gentiles, the non-Jews, who might never have heard about Jesus as their Savior. They each had different stories of conversion – Paul's considerably more dramatic! They had different styles, different communities of believers, but they had one purpose – to preach Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead.
Jesus, the Messiah and Lord sent to save the world from death due to sin and to open the gates of heaven to all who would believe. Just before his ascension, Jesus tells his followers to go out into the world making disciples of all nations. Peter and Paul, as well as the other apostles and his other disciples did just that.
We, too, have been called by virtue of our baptism to go out and make disciples. We have different stories of conversion – and some of us may not even know we have a story because we have always believed. Some of us may have a dramatic story of realizing that Jesus is Lord in our lives. The question is, "How do we let people know the Good News?"
Are our lives a witness to our beliefs? Are we embarrassed to admit we are believers? Would any of us be identified and then cast into prison because our faith is so apparent to others, as was the faith of Peter and Paul? My hope is that at the end of my life I can say with St. Paul, "I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith."