Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles – June 29, 2025

St. Paul – Lyons, KS

Acts 12:1-11; Psalm 34:2-9; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18; Matthew 16:13-19

Peter & Paul: Proclaiming “Jesus is the Christ, the Lord”

Like I mentioned, today we celebrate the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul—Paul of course being our patron, so this day is an added solemnity for us! Both of these great apostles died, were martyred in Rome. First Peter, who was famously crucified upside down, and then Paul, who, as a Roman citizen, was given the dignified death of beheading. And since the earliest of days, their feasts have been celebrated on the same day.

And there is so much we could talk about with these two. But I want to focus our attention in on just one—and that is the fact that both of their lives were marked and shaped and rooted in one simple fact: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the true Lord of the world. And this confession, this fact—this is what literally changed everything in their lives! This is what led them to abandon their “normal life.” And they refused to give up on this fact, even when it led them to being ostracized by the friends, by their co-workers, by their communities; even when it led them into prison; even when it led them to death. If Jesus is Lord, the Caesar is not. If Jesus is Lord, then money, sports, work, vacations, Netflix—none of these can be more important.

Seriously, just think. Peter had a pretty lucrative fishing business up in Galilee. But after encountering Jesus, after coming to know him, and to know that this Jesus is the Christ, he gives it all up. Paul—Paul was an up-and-coming Pharisee, destined to be a leader among the Jewish people; he was initially fiercely persecuting and imprisoning and killing the people that followed Jesus; but when he encountered Jesus, when he came to know that this Jesus is the Christ, he gave it all up. Both of them, by their own paths, come to know one fact: this Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the true Lord of the world. And so they place everything else in second place to him. And what happens? Immediately they face persecution!

One of my “Greatest Hits!” (again, if we can even call them that)—but I hope one of my greatest hits has been impressing this upon you. And so the simple question that I want us to reflect on today—I want us to reflect on this: Am I willing to follow the same path as Peter and Paul, a path that doesn’t lead to comfort and praise and fame and power and money and whatever everyone else is doing and what everyone else expects us to do—but am I willing to follow after Jesus Christ, through the ups and downs, even when it’s not popular, even when it’s difficult, even when my friends aren’t on board, even when it would be much easier not to?

The Cost of Discipleship

There are a lot of examples of this I have shared over the years. One of my favorites is the example of Saint José Sanchez Del Rio. José was a 14 year old boy from Michoacan, Mexico, martyred during the Cristero War down in Mexico, less than 100 years ago, back in 1928. I’ve also shared the example of Blessed Franz Jägerstätter, the Austrian farmer who refused to fight for the Nazi’s during World War II, and was martyred for his faith. Both of these are people, saints, who show us what it looks like to follow after Jesus Christ—even to death. Nothing, not even the threat of death, would keep them from following Jesus Christ.

But I don’t think that any one of us is going to be threatened with death for following Jesus. We will in Kansas. And yet—and yet we are under a real attack. And if we’re going to talk about my “Greatest Hits!”, then there really is one story that I’ve used and referenced and gone back to over and over again: the man from China.

Back in the 1950’s, the Roman Catholic Church was outlawed in China, and so the Church moved “underground.” They would have these clandestine “home Masses.” So among the people there was this man and his family, hosting a priest in their home. And they invited the other Catholics they knew to celebrate Mass with the priest. Well one day, as Mass was finishing up, someone ran in and said, “The authorities are on their way!” And so everyone scattered: the people ran, the priest ran. Everyone scattered except this man and his family. He was arrested.

And for three weeks they beat this man, trying to get him to give up the identity and the location of the priest. For three weeks they beat him, burned his skin, used a cattle prod—the whole time saying, “Just tell us. Tell us the name of this priest. Tell us where he is. Help us find him. And then you can go free.” Here is this guy who not only loved his priest, but loved the Eucharist, Jesus Christ present in the Eucharist so much—he knew that if the authorities found this priest, he would be arrested and who knows when the rest of the people would have a priest again. He wouldn’t give him up! And so after three weeks, the authorities, realizing they weren’t going to break him—they sent him home!

Well, shortly after this, the man and his family escaped communist China and came to the United States—settled somewhere in the northeast part of States. And when he and his family got here, they were overjoyed. Not just because they were safe and free, but because just down the street from their house was the Catholic Church. They started going to daily Mass. This family who would have to wait for weeks, sometimes months to receive the Eucharist—they could go to Mass every single day.

After working different jobs for a while and saving up money, this man began his own Chinese restaurant. He began living the American Dream. Soon he was able to buy the family a new house, new cars, send his kids to the best schools. But if you know people that work in or own restaurants, you know that it’s a 24/7 job. So the man has to stop going to daily Mass with his family. Soon, he stopped going to Mass on Sundays, only went on Christmas and Easter and peoples’ weddings. And just a few years ago, he stopped going entirely.

Here is this man who was a hero for the Eucharist, for the faith—tortured endlessly for three weeks, and wouldn’t give up the Eucharist or his faith. This is a man whose life was very much like Saints Peter, and Paul, and José Sanchez Del Rio, Blessed Franz Jägerstätter. But then he comes to this county, to our culture, to the land of the free and the home of the Chiefs—and he doesn’t even go to Mass.

Again, I know I’ve told this story before and when I leave I’m gonna tell it again to all my new audiences who have never heard it. But the point is this, the thing we cannot miss is this: what Communist China couldn’t do, what torture couldn’t do, what cattle prods couldn’t do … our culture was able to do, the American Dream was able to do—and it didn’t even have to try.

Our Soft Martyrdom

We are all here today because at some level we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the true Lord of the world. We believe that Jesus is the king, he is the one to whom we give our loyalty. But because of that, we’re going to face persecution—and not like Peter and Paul or José Sanchez, no. We face a “soft persecution,” a subtle one, like the man from China.

Work—work begins to dominate our lives, and take it over; work become our “king.” Sports, football, softball—we get a schedule from the coach and that becomes our “king.” Busyness—just everything that’s going on becomes our “king.” And I’m not guessing! People literally tell me this, to my face!

But do we recognize that THIS—this is how, in the twenty-first century, in the United States, THIS is what persecution looks like? We don’t have soldiers persecuting us, we have a desire for money, we have neighbors, we have teammates and coaches. We don’t face prison, we face isolation: “If I don’t do this, if I don’t go along with everyone else, I’ll be alone. I’ll feel left out.” We don’t face physical torture, we face people talking about us behind our back, mocking us. And in the midst of it, many of us will abandon our faith.

Paul, in this second reading, right after it, he talks about all of the people that have abandoned him. One person—Paul says, “Demas, enamored of the present world, abandoned me” (2 Tim 4:10). Even back then, the struggle was there: “enamored of the present world.” (Our seminary professors would tell us, “So tell people, don’t be a ‘Demas.’”) Why did Demas abandon Paul and Jesus? That soft, subtle persecution was there: “Enamored of the present world…”

And so the question for us is: Are we enamored by this world, drawn in and trapped in the American Dream? Or, are we seeking greatness in the kingdom of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the true Lord and king of the world? Are we ready to face the challenges on this culture that so subtly seeks to take our faith from us? 

My hope is that on this solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul we will become more willing to follow the same path as them; a path that doesn’t lead to comfort and praise and fame and power, but one that quite often leads to challenges, one that is at times quite difficult—but that (as Paul says) leads to a “crown of righteousness,” a path on which the Lord will stand by us and give us strength, one which will bring us “safe to his heavenly Kingdom.”