Solemnity of Saint Peter and Saint Paul

Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. 
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;

and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”


Somewhere in my theological studies it suddenly hit me that everything we know of Jesus and the gospels depends upon human beings. True, we have the Holy Spirit but the Spirit uses willing human beings like you and me to convey the truth of Jesus from one generation to the next. There is nothing magical or mystical about this process; or nothing as weird as some would have it. 
Inevitably the word is colored by the human beings who pass it along. But perhaps we should say, “Beautifully the word is colored by the human beings who pass it along.” Without losing its meaning or its importance, but gaining in significance and majesty with each generation, the Word of God comes to us.

It was a crisis to me, at the time. Trained in the culture of the Lone Ranger and the Rugged Individual, I wanted a direct, unmediated relationship with God. I was astonished to realize just how much we rely on the integrity of twenty centuries of our forebears. And yet the truth has never been lost because, as he promised, Jesus gave us his Holy Spirit to keep us faithful.

Periodically there are reform movements that would restore the Church to its pristine origins. Some charismatic reformers think they have discovered where the Apostles went wrong, and they the reformers will now inaugurate -- after all these misled and befuddled centuries -- the true Christianity. 

The Christian tradition is a dense cable of many traditions spanning the centuries. Some of them need upgrading and restoration, largely because they have lost their original spirit. Some may safely be forgotten, though we should honor the memory of those who believed so fervently in them. I think of such movements as the Knights Templar, warriors who fought the Crusades for the church. And, of course, some were bad to start with, such as the heresies. Many heresies like Jansenism, Manichaeism, and Pelagianism are still with us and still recognizable. 
But running through all the traditions is the Holy Spirit which continually drives fallible, sinful human beings like you and me to repentance, renewal and reform. The Spirit continually challenges our human wisdom and teaches us to think more clearly and understand our experience of God without the lenses of our sinful preconceptions. 
When we celebrate the Apostles Peter and Paul we celebrate the courage and integrity of these men who would not change their gospel to suit the religious teachings and philosophical trends of their time. They knew what they had seen and they passed that vision to us. 
Because of their fidelity and because the Holy Spirit still abides with us, we can say that "We have seen the Lord." If you or I personally did not exactly see him in the flesh or in his resurrection, we have because we are among those who have, and they are among us. There is only one Church that spans the ages. We saw him and listened to him, we walked with him and witnessed his resurrection, and we wrote the Bible.