Saints Peter and Paul: Models of suffering and perseverance in faith

St. Teresa of Avila strongly believed that God was her great Friend, and that prayer is in large measure “an intimate sharing between friends.” One time she prayed to God, sharing with her Friend the pain of dealing with the hostility and gossip she was facing at that time. At one point during her prayer, she heard the Lord say to her, “Teresa, that is how I treat my friends.” Saint Teresa replied, “That is why you have so few friends.”

This story makes me feel like a brother who cannot help but admire his sister as she says something to their father he knows he could never get away with. Saint Teresa could say such a thing because she was so holy. She was saying this to God, I am sure, with a twinkle in her eye and with the understanding that she knew the Lord was telling her the truth.

What truth? That there is no way to be a friend of Jesus without suffering.  This is one of the most important lessons we can learn from the celebration of the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. Of course, the reason ranks as a solemnity is that St. Peter was our first pope and St. Paul was probably the greatest evangelist—the greatest preacher and teacher of the Gospel—the Church has had in her 2000 year history.

Because they represent such critical dimensions of the Church’s life and mission—holiness, authority, and the preaching of the Gospel, our minds are strongly inclined to drift towards thinking about the role of apostolic authority in the Church. But it is also essential for us to consider the tremendous suffering of these saints, and their perseverance in faith.

From the time they first encountered Jesus to the moment they died for Him, both St. Peter and St. Paul suffered a lot for the Gospel. Both of them left behind their old lives to follow Jesus and to preach the Gospel.  Both of them were imprisoned. Let’s stop there and think for a moment about Pope Francis or your own bishop going to prison because of their faith in Christ. Think about the impact that would have on you. That is what our first pope and another of our first apostles did. Suffering for the Gospel is a legacy Pope Francis, every member of the College of Bishops, and each of us has inherited from the apostles.

Getting back to SS. Peter and Paul, we know that both had a great deal of success in preaching the Gospel, but they also faced much opposition.  And there were physical obstacles to their mission that are hard for us to imagine today. Saint Paul describes them in concrete detail in 2 Corinthians 11:24-28. Paul begins by referring in a general way to his intense labors, imprisonments, beatings, and brushes with death.  Then he gets specific, writing:

Five times at the hands of the Jews I received forty lashes minus one.

Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I passed a night and a day on the deep;

on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own race, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers;

in toil and hardship, through many sleepless nights, through hunger and thirst, through frequent fastings, through cold and exposure.

And apart from these things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches.

Finally, we know that each of these apostles made the ultimate sacrifice, imitating Jesus not only in life but in their deaths. Both were martyred in the city of Rome, where two of the world’s greatest churches stand in their names today.

When facing life’s challenges and tragedies, a common question we either hear or are ourselves tempted to ask is, “How could God let this happen?”  If this was an article about gratitude, I might mention the problem that when things are going really well in our lives we hardly ever ask, “How could God be so good to me?” We have a tendency to think of good living as our default-mode, while we tend to see suffering and tragedy as highly unusual and as needing an explanation.

But this is not an article about gratitude. And it is not exactly about dealing with the problem of evil. It is about what we are to make of the example set by Saints Peter and Paul, their response to the invitation of Jesus, “Take up your cross…and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

What does it really mean to follow the apostles? Sometimes, when we think of following the authorities in our lives we think of “toeing the line.”  But following the apostles is not about toeing the line; it is about carrying the cross.  Each of us is given a share of suffering—suffering in our bodies, minds, and hearts, suffering because of our sins and the sins of others, suffering because of events and situations that are beyond our control, and suffering because of our faith in Christ.

It is so very easy to treat suffering as if it were something to be avoided at all costs. Our society encourages this kind of thinking all the time. There is always a pill, or a workout, or a therapy, to deal with whatever is bothering us. And there are very good ways we can make use of these remedies.  Yet suffering is inevitable for all of us, and the way we deal with suffering will largely shape the kind of people we become.

When we embrace our crosses, united with Jesus, we become more like Him. We allow God to shape us so that we become more and more like Jesus every day. In a powerful and mysterious passage, St. Paul writes, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church” (Col 1:24). Paul knew that the only thing “lacking in the afflictions of Christ” was our share in them. Jesus’ sufferings were enough to save an entire world of people, but every person who wishes to be saved needs to run to the cross, not away from it.

Saint Paul tells us that he rejoices in suffering, and St. Peter in his First Letter makes the connection with us. He writes in I Peter 4:13, “But rejoice to the extent that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that when his glory is revealed you may also rejoice exultantly.”  We rejoice now, and will rejoice in the glory of Christ, knowing He wants to share His glory with us. That is the “crown of righteousness” to which St. Paul refers in 2 Timothy 4:8. Heaven, sharing in the glory of Jesus’ Resurrection, is the reward for all of us who embrace the Cross and persevere to the end of our lives.

In the meantime, we might ask ourselves a couple of questions:

First—Do I really believe, with every fiber of my being, that Jesus Christ is what Peter says He is in Matthew 16:16: “the Christ, the Son of the living God”? Even as we believe it, we still need to ask God to strengthen our faith.

Second—Do I really love God, or do I merely love the good things He does for me? Am I ready to abandon Him when “the going gets tough,”or am I ready to abandon myself to Him?

Regarding this question about faith and trust, I do not mind saying that there are times when even holy disciples persevere because all of this is true, not because of any other consolation they experience. We all face these times, or will face them, but are we ready for them? We can’t wait until such times are upon us! Right now, we should ask SS. Peter and Paul to pray for us.

It is essential to remember what the Lord said to St. Paul in Acts 18:9-10, when Paul was facing strong opposition to his teaching, “Do not be afraid…for I am with you.” God is with His people, especially in the Holy Eucharist. As we cherish the blessing of our sacramental communion in the Body and Blood of Christ, we must beg the Lord to give you us the faith, hope, and love we need to take up our crosses and follow Him our entire lives, no matter what happens, until we finish the race and are ready to wear the crown reserved for God’s saints.