(Audio)
Peter receives the revelation of who Jesus is from the Father.
Simon Peter said in reply,
"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
Peter thus possesses the key of our faith.
And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (see John 17:3).
God takes this response and transforms it from a mere individual grace and makes it the foundation of his Church.
And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
God does not build on faith in the abstract apart from Peter. He builds precisely on Peter's correct reception of the truth. Peter and his successors thus become the rock on which the Church is built, against which the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail.
We could misunderstand Peter's perogative here if we thought that he was somehow free to bind and loose on a whim. But this is not correct. He is rather bound himself to the revelation he first receives from the Father. His task is to call others to receive that same revelation themselves, directly, from the Father. Once they have it they themselves can become living stones built on unity on Peter.
you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (see First Peter 2:5).
Peter is protected from error to protect us all. He is the principle of unity that can save us from our ability to delude ourselves. He does not fulfill this role for his own glory but for the flock who need his guidance.
Paul visited and conversed with Peter to make sure he himself wasn't running in vain (see Galatians 2:2). He received his revelation directly from Jesus himself. Even so, he desired to be built on the principle of divine unity. Only humility could enable someone as educated and credentialed as Paul to submit to an uneducated and often brash fisherman like Peter. We do see that his humility did not prevent him from speaking out when Peter acted insincerely. In this we have a good model for responding to problems in authority in our own day.
Paul and Peter both learned to be zealous for the kingdom. They were united in the desire of Jesus himself to do whatever was needed for the flock. They did not let obstacles such as prison bars stop them when it was not God's will.
So he followed him out,
not realizing that what was happening through the angel was real;
he thought he was seeing a vision.
Paul and Peter both were so united to Jesus as to even be united to him in their deaths for his sake.
I, Paul, am already being poured out like a libation,
and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have competed well; I have finished the race;
I have kept the faith.
These two great apostles died in different ways. But they died united in a profound union of faith, guarded by the Holy Spirit and the bond of peace, united with the Master whom they followed.
On this feast of these two great apostles there is much we can learn and much grace for which we should ask. We should pray that we receive real revelation from the Father about Jesus and that the resultant faith be built solidly on the rock of the Church. We should pray that we have the same heart for others that make Peter and Paul unstoppable forces of evangelization. And we should pray to follow Jesus so closely as to be willing to suffer for him, knowing that if we do we too will receive "the crown of righteousness" that awaits us.
The angel of the Lord will rescue those who fear him.
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