The Twins of the Eternal City of Rome

June 29

As I have written on several occasions, names in the Scripture are important.  Last week we heard about the naming of John by his father and mother, Zechariah and Elizabeth.  However, there are so many Scripture passages that explain various names, as in the case today when we hear Jesus name Peter, “the rock” (petra). St. Paul was called Saul before he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. From that time forward, he was known as Paul, a name that designates him as a citizen of Rome.

I suspect that we are all familiar with the fact that Peter or Cephas means “rock.”  Peter became the rock on which Jesus formed his Church.  The name Saul means “asked for,” “prayed for,” or borrowed and usually indicates that his mother saw him as an answer to her prayers.

While the name Abram means “Father of a nation,” the name Abraham means “Father of many nations.”  Paul’s writings indicate that he had great respect for Abraham as the patriarch of Judaism.  Through his own preaching and writing, St. Paul certainly contributes to the “descendants” of Abraham by including the Gentile nations in the Body of Christ, the Church.  Abraham represents a key moment in our salvation history.  St. Matthew illuminates this fact by tracing Jesus’ ancestry back to Abraham in the opening chapter of his Gospel.

St. Peter and St. Paul represent twin pillars which support the Church.  They are celebrated together to accentuate the fact that through their lives, the Jewish people and Gentiles were joined together in the Church, united by our common faith in the Lord Jesus.  In many Christian countries, today’s solemnity is also a civil holiday.  So great is their contribution to our Christian history that their feast is kept as a solemnity.

Of course, St. Paul was the great letter writer of the New Testament or Christian Scriptures. It is from his writings that we also find the foundation of our ability to “rejoice” in affliction as we unite ourselves to the crucified Savior.