Homily for feast of Sts Peter and Paul 2008

Peter and Paul merit a joint feast day. They are the founding fathers par excellence of the Church. In their own person, relationships, and life you can almost see the story of the Church itself. They didn't wear purple robes and mitres. They didn't live in palaces. They didn't command armies. They simply had the Word of God and the communion of their fellow Christians to sustain them.

They were very different people. They had conflicts with each other and with others in the Church. Their grasp of the significance of Jesus was different. Their theologies were different. The kind of Church each founded on their travels was different. Over time the differences became less obvious as the Church took on a more formal structure and a common way of understand the mysteries of faith.

But the struggles and persecution, conflict and enthusiasm, the energy, mistakes and joy which marked their individual missions were no different to what we find today in any Church that is alive.

Today is the beginning of a "Year of St Paul". It is roughly 2000 years since his birth. June 2008 to June 2009 has been designated by Pope Benedict as the Year of St Paul. Among other things, as he proclaimed the year, he said:

"Last but not least," the Pope said, "a special aspect that will need much care at the different stages of the Pauline bimillenary is its ecumenical dimension. Especially involved in bringing the Good News to all the peoples, the Apostle to the Nations [St Paul] did all he could for the unity and harmony of all Christians. May he lead and protect us in this bimillenary celebration, helping us progress in a humble and sincere search for the complete unity of all the parts of the mystical Body of Christ."

Now, like then, the Church is composed of very different people. There are people who have a very close attachment to the Body of Christ as it exists in a local Parish. There are also people who have only the most tenuous connection. They may only think about their faith at Christmas or at a Funeral. And in between there are various degrees of "communion" that people have. Some attend Mass regularly and are not seen at any other function. Some do not like crowds and prefer a more private practice. Some even leave Mass early to avoid getting involved. But that is the Catholic church. Some Christian churches are more strict. You are either fully in or fully out. There is no half measures. We tend to be more flexible as to who is part of the community and who is not.

The media often describes the Church as though it were a powerful, monolithic institution that commands the lives of millions. That is far from the reality. What strikes me, however, is the sheer fragility of the Church as found in us as people struggling to live our faith today. It is in that very fragility and weakness of us human beings that we find our strength because then we have to depend more on God's Spirit to give us life. That is the strength of the Church. The Church is people who know they are "poor in spirit" (Matthew 5:3) . That is at the heart of the Church.

That weakness is described in the first and second readings we heard today. The First reading tells of Peter's imprisonment with no human hope of rescue. His fellow Christians prayed for him unremittingly (Acts 12:5). And God did rescue him. Paul, in the Second reading, speaks of his life as being poured out as an offering. An offering is something that is given away with no thought of payment. It has no other purpose than to be a gift. Paul has nothing of himself. But, he says, "the Lord stood by me and gave me power" (2 Timothy 4:17).

Recognising our own fragility and sinfulness we can understand those who are imprisoned in all kinds of problems. We like Peter and Paul put our hope in God and witness to God's strength to build up those who have no hope. So on this feast of Peter and Paul we can make the Pope's prayer our own as I read before when he says, "help us to advance in the humble and sincere search for the full unity of all the members of the mystical body of Christ.'

Fr Graham