If only St. Peter was on facebook! He would have had a
whole bunch of friends. People from all over the world could have seen pictures
of him entering Rome, standing in the forum, waving from a seat in the
Colosseum, eating gelato at the chariot races. People in China could have read
his sermons[1].
If only St. Paul could have tweeted. He would have followers everywhere.
They could have read his reactions to the Galatians returning to Judaism in
only 140 words or less. He would have had to condense his Letter to the Romans
a bit, or extend it over a few hundred tweets, but he still would have been
very popular.
But Peter did not have facebook, and Paul did not have a twitter
account. In fact, they didn’t even have electricity or phones. Still, they knew
how to get the Gospel message out. Peter traveled from Jerusalem to Antioch to
Rome. He was known so well throughout the ancient world that there is a legend,
possibly true, that when Paul preached the Gospel to the people of ancient
Syracuse in Sicily, they responded that they wanted to hear from Peter before
they converted.
It was certainly clear to the Romans that this Peter and Paul whom they
held captive in Rome were mainly responsible for the quick spread of
Christianity throughout the empire. The Romans thought they could stop this by
killing them both, crucifying Peter head down and beheading Paul, but Peter and
Paul had a communication system infinitely more powerful than facebook or twitter:
they had the Holy Spirit! The Holy
Spirit was the force that worked through them and through all Christians to
convert the world to Jesus Christ.
Consider this, there was not a whole lot impressive
about Paul’s bearing. He was little[2].
He was fiery, true, and there were people throughout the ancient world who
listened to him or read his letters, but there was more to Paul than met the
eye. The people he spoke to not only became followers of the new way of life,
they willingly offered their lives for Jesus Christ. Paul gave them the Holy Spirit
he had received. They lived and died, not for Paul, but for God.
Peter was a large fisherman. The remains uncovered
under St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and marked, "Here lies Peter," are
those of a large man. Peter was a fisherman. How many fishermen became the
leaders of movements that changed the world? By my count, just one. Peter did
not do this on his own, though. Jesus made it quite clear to Peter that His
Heavenly Father inspired Peter to proclaim that Jesus was the Christ[3].
Peter would be inspired by the Spirit throughout his life. He would feed the
Lord’s sheep.
The power that Peter and Paul had to spread the Gospel has been given to
us. We have received the Holy Spirit. We can be witnesses to Jesus Christ.
Others can see Christ in us and through the working of the Holy Spirit return
to God. We need to be less concerned about our stature in the world, be it
physical or social, and more concerned about our place in the Body of Christ.
We need to focus on Jesus Christ, as Saints Peter and Paul did, and let His
Spirit work through us.
Peter and Paul did not have facebook or twitter. They didn’t need them.
We don’t either. We have what they had. We have the Holy Spirit. Today we pray that
through the intercession of these two great saints of the Church we might have
the determination and the courage to proclaim Jesus Christ ■
[1]
Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, June 29, 2014. Readings: Acts 12:1-11; Responsorial
Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18; Matthew 16:13-19.
[2]
Actually, his name was changed from Saul of Tarsus to Paul as a bit of a joke,
Paul comes from the Latin word paulus for little
[3]
Cfr. Mt 16:17.
