Hi everyone, here’s my homily for THE FEAST OF STS. PETER AND PAUL – JUNE 29, 2010 – which I gave at the FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) Staff Training in Champaign, Illinois. The readings can be found at https://www.usccb.org/nab/062910.shtml Thanks as always for reading and your feedback…
For those from MSU Newman, the opening might be familiar as the “legendary elephant story” which I used over 2 years ago on campus. Couldn’t resist using it again… love the reaction it gets!
God Bless – Fr. Jim
HOMILY
In 1986, Dan Harrison was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Northwestern University. On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed, so Dan approached it very carefully. He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant’s foot and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it. As carefully and as gently as he could, Dan worked the wood out with his hunting knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot. The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments. Dan stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled.
Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away. Dan never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.
Twenty years later, Dan went to visit the Chicago Zoo. As he approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Dan was standing. The large bull elephant stared at Dan, lifted its front foot off the ground, and then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man.
Remembering the encounter in 1986, Dan couldn’t help wondering if this was the same elephant.
Dan summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder. The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Dan’s legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.
Probably wasn’t the same elephant.
Stupid joke… but it makes an important point – Recognition is an important thing, and it can even be a matter of life and death.
Today we as a Church celebrate two absolute Giants in the Catholic Faith – Saint Peter and Saint Paul who’s martyrdom for the faith we remember with this Feast. And in their cases, they actually died for correctly recognizing who Jesus was, as Peter boldly responds in today’s Gospel “YOU ARE THE CHRIST THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.”
In scripture we learn how Peter goes from a fisherman (who sadly– often times we find him fishing in the Gospels he’s not very good at it until Jesus comes around) to becoming the first Pope; Paul goes from one of the fiercest persecutors of Christians in Jerusalem to one who wrote the majority of the New Testament and one of the greatest evangelists.
Probably neither one of them ever imagined how their lives would go in such different directions. Could Peter have ever imagined, well could he imagine having his name changed from Simon to Peter? But did he ever think that he would even be remembered a generation after his death as what– the Gorton’s fisherman of his day?
Imagine someone giving Saul a glimpse into the future as he was watching St. Stephen being stoned and revealing to him that one day his writings as Paul would be held as sacred?
Recognition is an important thing though, so none of this probably seemed possible until they recognized Jesus Christ for who he really was. If Jesus could make a blind man see, a deaf man hear, a mute man speak, surely he could change the hearts, the minds, the lives of two stubborn men, (I’m banking on it myself)
And knowing their stories, we realize that this was something that took time. It was a life-time of conversion. They grew in their understanding of Jesus day by day, mission by mission. Witnessing the tremendous power that came as they preached His Name, His Word, His Life – so much so that eventually it wasn’t just their names that changed, the Holy Spirit had completely, radically transformed their lives, so much so that they were able to joyfully offer their lives. First in there lives of service, in mission sometimes even in dangerous situations and difficult circumstances (kind of like all of you who are preparing to go to very different and unique situations on campuses all over the country… I know for the missionaries who’ve come to Jersey, they often feel like that its only the strong that survive and weak can feel like they’ve been slammed and trampled by an elephant…) After there lives of service, Peter and Paul weren’t worn down or beaten down or stressed by those challenges, in fact it had ripened them for the ultimate offering of their lives in martyrdom.
They went to their deaths because their conviction in that eternal life was so real, they couldn’t deny it… better for them to be crucified and beheaded than to betray what had taken deep root in their hearts and minds…Their earthly deaths meant little to them in comparison to the eternal life they recognized Jesus was offering them.
How are we at recognizing that Jesus is who he says he is? That He’s the Christ, the Son of the Living God? Are we ready to offer our lives in the mission of helping the rest of the world to recognize that as well?
Our presence here demonstrates that we have that desire, but we also know how often our sinfulness, our egos, our fears get in the way of that desire to follow Christ that completely, let alone be witnesses to him to a rather hostile world that is threatened by Jesus’ very name. Yet the lives of these two men are held up to encourage us. We remember Peter’s betrayals of Jesus at the moment he needed Peter the most during His Trial, His Passion… We remember Paul’s campaign to eradicate Jesus’ very name, not to point out their failures, but to see how those experiences moved them even more deeply to recognize Jesus, to trust Jesus to the point that
-when he forgave them – they believed Him.
-when he called them- they followed Him.
-when they approached their deaths – they recognized that He was still with them, strengthening them till the last breath and ready to welcome them into the Kingdom he has promised all of his faithful followers.
We need to recapture that zeal. In fact the whole Church does. That’s why last night our Holy Father announced a new Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization. Pope Benedict has been sharing his concern throughout his pontificate over the “eclipse of God” in some already “Christian” nations, and so the Lord is bidding us through the Holy Father’s words to go back into the world and re-teach all nations. It will be up to us to help our brothers and sisters recognize the truth that is Jesus Christ. That can only happen though, when we’ve come to that deep recognition ourselves.
