This Week, on June 29, we celebrate the feast of Saints Peter and Paul
Nations, cultures, and institutions have come and gone, but the Church remains; the Roman civilization has disappeared, the Byzantine empire has drifted away; Charlemagne’s kingdom broke apart along ago; Napoleon’s government, the Russia of the Tsars, Stalin’s Communist state, Hitler’s thousand-year Reich—they’ve all passed into history. But the Church, founded on Peter’s confession is still, strangely, here. Of course, we shouldn’t be too surprised, for we have the guarantee of Jesus Himself: ‘The gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.’ After his confession, Peter receives not only a new name, but also a gift: ‘I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.’ The Church rests…not on the shifting sands of popular opinion, nor on the learned speculation of an intellectual elite, but rather on ‘Rocky’ and his successors down through the ages, who know who Jesus is and who hold stubbornly on to those keys.
Bishop Robert Barron
For more information on Saints Peter and Paul, check the page under Faith Formation > All Things Catholic > Saints