I decided to write about St. Peter and St. Paul who’s shared day is June 29. I wanted to write about two people that had a paradox life through a radical experience and change of heart. Something I think almost all of can use now days with all the different anxieties and angers around us. When one understands the historical books of the Bible like the Book of Maccabees, we see the same tensions happening now, that were happening when Jesus walked the earth. Sadly later on in history many had this book removed from their Bible (circa 1800 officially), and thus we repeat history of everyone looking for their political messiah like Judas Maccabees was in his time fighting the Greeks that desecrated the Jewish faith. He restored glory and honor to a challenging society where politics were forcing the Jews into bad situations. This person is why so many missed the presence of God, when Jesus walked among them. He wasn’t a fighting messiah like King David or Judas Maccabee.

Let’s start with Peter since his story is before Paul’s. Peter was a bit of a broken fisherman, working a demeaning job in his time. Jesus calls him and he abandons the life he knows. He walks with God for 3 years and sees many amazing moments, only a few the Bible records however. Then when it comes time for conviction at the Crucifixion he flees in fear, denying Jesus Christ as was foreseen by Jesus in the gospels. Three days later something radically changes him, the Resurrection. Shortly after that Pentecost when he receives the Holy Spirit. He goes from a great coward that hid in fear due to the hostility he saw around him, to a courageous man that gave his life in peace and humility. 2000 years later his legacy guides the Catholic and Orthodox Churches respectfully.

Now let’s look at Paul, who previously was named Saul and was zealous person, just like King Saul who sought to kill others in the name of his ideology. This again we see reflected in our society where people want to kill anyone from the cradle to the grave out of mere inconvenience or lack of respect towards their image of God, since we all from conception to death are a human being deserving of being treated with dignity. This is why we understand the beautiful innocents of a child in the woman, to the respect of burying the dead. It’s all affirming the dignity of the human being. Paul sadly misunderstood this and was part of a movement determined to kill the believers who became known as Christians out of fear they would compromise his way of understanding. One day He like Peter and many others would have an encounter with the Risen Jesus Christ, that would radically change his ways.

This is and can be our lives. It’s my story in some capacity. While I can’t ever say I clearly heard the voice of God like Paul, or saw the physical presence of Jesus, I do know I felt His presence after searching and actually doubting just like all of the Apostles. Then that day came where everything changed and like the Apostles I went from a lukewarm, sometimes cowardly believer, to one that could no longer deny the truth, even to death through peaceful resistance if necessary, although not what I would desire lol. This is what was so fascinating about Peter and Paul. Peter was a coward multiple times, but through his faith he never gave up, always reconciling with God for his flaws. In the end he fulfilled Jesus’ promise in Matthew 16:18 which is actually a new covenant of Isiah 22:22. Paul after much travel, influence and suffering was beheaded. As my photo in Sicily shows, he’s honored everywhere.

The cathedral in Lisieux, France that is a shrine to Paul’s life and travels.

In close this is how the saints inspire me, many die looking like potential failures in their lives, but through their trust in Jesus Christ, God himself, their legacy, life and spirit truly live on. In seeing this presence verses the modern heroes who fade away in a century or two, or bad guys in history who are only remembered for their eventual demise, I am reminded of what is the straight, narrow and only path to true sustainable change in this world. We have to be patient, resist the anxieties around us and trust God to sort it all out, while encouraging others to do the right thing. Too often we make up rules or tear down institutions for a divisive understanding by an angry human. This covers a wide spectrum, so please don’t pigeon hole me into your propaganda with what I may be referencing, it’s everywhere. Be still, let the waters settle, no one sees clear in muddy waters. In the stillness you’ll see him working miracles.

June Drinking Companions