Two together

In this episode, I reflect on the complementary roles of Peter and Paul in the life of the Church, drawing on my personal connections to architecture and engineering. I explore how Peter offers stability and a strong foundation, while Paul inspires us to reach out and innovate. I encourage our community to pray for a renewal of both these gifts, so that we may remain faithful to our tradition while responding creatively to new challenges. Together, let us seek the guidance of both apostles as we build a vibrant, mission-focused Church.

00:00:00 One of my brothers is a structural engineer. And so, you know, I really love just seeing some of the projects that he has worked on and just seeing, you know, just the the gift and the beauty of of all of that. But I have another friend who is an architect, and of course, it’s the architect’s vision for how this building might happen or what might happen with the bridge or whatever it is that they’re designing. You know, this this vision of this thing of beauty. There’s this gift, but you need the engineer to be able to make sure that the architect’s vision is able to be satisfied and fulfilled, that both of those are necessary in order for something creative and beautiful to be manifested. And of course, when we are told today that it’s in the the the keys of Peter, that he will build my church, that we reminded that we need both of those elements to to be part of the builders of this kingdom that the Lord has entrusted to us, that both of those signs, the Petrine sign, which is, you know, a sign of of vitality and life.

00:01:17 Peter was certainly able to to put his foot in it to, to get things wrong. But there’s an energy and a dynamism about Peter, this passion that he has, that he’s able to step forward in the gospel today, to be able to make this bold declaration when most of the other apostles that are there would have known that that was who Jesus was, that he was indeed the Messiah, the one that they had longed for, that he spoke of this intimacy with the father, and so he was able to identify that, yes, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. But the others didn’t stand forward. The others were less able to articulate it in that moment, as Peter, when he stepped forward, was able to do that. But in so many other things, Peter becomes the the firm foundation of what is consistent when the early church was really starting to to wanting to proclaim this breaking in of the kingdom. It’s not Peter that drives it to the edge. There has to be someone from the peripheries.

00:02:35 Paul, who wasn’t part of that original group of disciples. But it’s Paul that’s able to proclaim this message not just to the Jewish community, but to the church on the edges, to the people that have never heard anything of the kingdom. People that weren’t part of this message of salvation, that the church is always in need of both dimensions, both lungs, if you like. We need the stability of Peter. We need those people that to call us back to the center, that continue to provide that impulse to maintenance and to continue to provide the structure and make sure it’s all going to hold together. But we need the Paul’s. We need people that have this fire in their the belly. This desire to announce the breaking in into new communities and new opportunities to to see how can we live this life of the gospel in new ways. Today, both of these elements are essential. And so when we gather today to remember these two aspects of the church’s life, we need to pray for this renewal of both elements within our church, the Petrine and the Pauline.

00:03:58 This call back to the center, this call back to the fidelity of the the papal office, the fidelity of the center of the church. But we also need to respect the power and the fire that is there in Paul to call us into different ways of experiencing the gospel, different ways of encountering the power of the Holy Spirit being awakened within us. Both dimensions are essential, and both aspects need to be reawakened within us as the church. If we are to be faithful followers of Jesus in this present situation. So let’s really pray and ask both Peter and Paul to pray for us, to inspire us to be the church that God wants us to be. We can so easily settle in a vision that isn’t part of of either of those two original visions. We can just settle for what has always happened, the way that things have always been done. But neither Paul or Peter will be content with that. We need to experience this fresh wind of the Holy Spirit being evoked within us, in order for the church to become the community that God has called us to be.

00:05:11 So let’s pray and ask both Peter and Paul to pray for us, to pray that we might experience this fire in our ability to be able to go to the edges, to build this beautiful creation that God has called us to make. The God is the author. God is ultimately the creator of his church, but we faithfully need to bring that vision to life by being its builders and architects, as engineers and the structure of all of those different elements, in order that life might experience that full flourishing within our local community.