Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles. I always find the back story of any saints to be very interesting—our Missalette introduction to today talks about how both saints failed or were wayward instead of holy: Peter denying Christ and Paul persecuting the Church. There is the lesson that with God’s grace, our sinful pasts may not determine our futures.
In popular imagination, a saint is someone who is perfect and selfless, who dwells in holy ecstasy and impeccable goodness. But Dorothy Day said: “Don’t call me a saint,” “I don’t want to be dismissed that easily.”
Saints are imperfect people and this is what draws me to this day’s celebration of two great saints. Christians don’t remember these men because they were perfect; we remember them because, like us, they were broken, selfish and fearful, and yet God wrought beauty and light through their lives.
In any cultural moment where we want to divide all people and institutions neatly into “good guys” and “bad guys,” those on the right side of history and those who aren’t, the righteous and the damned; this day reminds us of the checkered and complicated truth of each human heart. Martin Luther gave us the helpful phrase “simul justus et peccator” —simultaneously saint and sinner. It names how we are holy and wayward at once. It proclaims a paradox that we are redeemed yet in need of redemption.
This day reminds me that God meets us, saints and sinners, despite our contradictions, and makes good out of haphazard lives. It tells me that all of us, even the best of us, are in need of unimaginable mercy and forgiveness. The church is “first and foremost, a community of forgiven sinners,” writes the theologian Gilbert Meilaender. It is not “a community that embodies the practices of perfection” but instead “a body of believers who still live ‘in the flesh,’ who are still part of the world, suffering the transformations effected by God’s grace on its pilgrim way.” Recalling the stories of any saint is, in the end, a celebration not of perfection but of grace.
I find this a very hopeful vision for our own lives and the life of the world. In spite of his denial and sin, Peter becomes the rock upon which the Church is built and he is given the keys to the Kingdom. In spite of his perfidy, Paul is one of the greatest disciples. For me, this is a great comfort—that by grace we are saved!
Keep singing!
Elizabeth Dyc
In popular imagination, a saint is someone who is perfect and selfless, who dwells in holy ecstasy and impeccable goodness. But Dorothy Day said: “Don’t call me a saint,” “I don’t want to be dismissed that easily.”
Saints are imperfect people and this is what draws me to this day’s celebration of two great saints. Christians don’t remember these men because they were perfect; we remember them because, like us, they were broken, selfish and fearful, and yet God wrought beauty and light through their lives.
In any cultural moment where we want to divide all people and institutions neatly into “good guys” and “bad guys,” those on the right side of history and those who aren’t, the righteous and the damned; this day reminds us of the checkered and complicated truth of each human heart. Martin Luther gave us the helpful phrase “simul justus et peccator” —simultaneously saint and sinner. It names how we are holy and wayward at once. It proclaims a paradox that we are redeemed yet in need of redemption.
This day reminds me that God meets us, saints and sinners, despite our contradictions, and makes good out of haphazard lives. It tells me that all of us, even the best of us, are in need of unimaginable mercy and forgiveness. The church is “first and foremost, a community of forgiven sinners,” writes the theologian Gilbert Meilaender. It is not “a community that embodies the practices of perfection” but instead “a body of believers who still live ‘in the flesh,’ who are still part of the world, suffering the transformations effected by God’s grace on its pilgrim way.” Recalling the stories of any saint is, in the end, a celebration not of perfection but of grace.
I find this a very hopeful vision for our own lives and the life of the world. In spite of his denial and sin, Peter becomes the rock upon which the Church is built and he is given the keys to the Kingdom. In spite of his perfidy, Paul is one of the greatest disciples. For me, this is a great comfort—that by grace we are saved!
Keep singing!
Elizabeth Dyc
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