Crossing Junctions

 

Solemnity of Ss Peter & Paul, Apostles

Readings: Acts 12:1-11; Psalm 33 (34):2-9; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18; Matthew 16:13-19

Picture: By Egor Myznik on Unsplash

Why are motorists asked to slow down when approaching a junction? Isn’t it because a junction can be a dangerous place? Dangerous, because it’s where traffic flowing in different directions meet. Both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. And there’s a real risk of collisions, resulting in damage to property, and the loss of life and limb. But collisions are not the only danger we face at a junction. Nor are limbs and lives all that can be lost. Especially if we’re at an unfamiliar place, we may also run the risk of making a wrong turn, of losing our way, and failing to reach our intended destination. What do you think? If forced to make a choice, which is the better option? To lose our life, or to lose our way?

I believe this is a question our scriptures invite us to ponder on this solemn feast of Ss Peter and Paul. Two foundational figures of our Church. For whether we’re conscious of it or not, as followers of Christ, as members of his Body, all of us are called to travel together toward a particular destination. The place to which Jesus came to lead us. In the gospel, isn't it to this same place that Jesus is promising to give St Peter the power to regulate access? I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.

But not everyone is moving in this same direction. Not all of us are heading towards the kingdom of heaven. For we share this world not just with those who adhere to faiths different from our own, and those who, in their own ways, are sincerely seeking the one true God. Unfortunately, there are also those who, through the choices they make, and the lives they lead, are actually moving in the opposite direction. Pursuing and upholding values contrary to those of God’s kingdom. Anxiously hoarding treasures that will pass away. Effectively knocking, not on the doors of heaven, but on the gates of the underworld. So that, on this earth, Christ’s Body, the Church, finds herself at something like a huge junction. A busy meeting point of people and groups, bodies and institutions, travelling in different spiritual directions. And as with all busy traffic junctions, collisions are a real danger.

Isn’t this the experience of both Peter and Paul? In the first reading, Peter’s practice of the faith collides with the political agenda of King Herod. The apostle finds himself in prison, awaiting execution. And the second reading begins with Paul poignantly expressing his conviction that he will soon be put to death by the authorities. My life is already being poured away as a libation, and the time has come for me to be gone… Yet, in the face of mortal danger, a consoling word keeps echoing through our scriptures. The word rescue. The psalm reminds us that the angel of the Lord rescues those who revere him. In the first reading, Peter is saved, or rescued, from prison. And in the second reading, Paul speaks of how, like the prophet Daniel of old, he was rescued from the lion’s mouth. But we need to understand just what kind of rescue this really is. For tradition tells us that both Peter and Paul were martyred for their faith. Eventually, they were rescued not from death, but from the danger of losing their way, of failing to reach their intended destination. Forced to choose between preserving their earthly lives, and remaining faithful to Christ, they received courage to choose Christ, and so were brought safely to his heavenly kingdom.

Not only that, our scriptures also indicate to us, just how God brings this about. First through a wonderful personal revelation. The same revelation that Paul received on the road to Damascus, and which Peter receives in the gospel. The ability to recognise and confess Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God. The One who humbly submitted to a fatal collision, on the cruel junction of the Cross, and was then rescued and raised to life for us all. It is by accepting this divine revelation, and then by continually cultivating a loving, intimate, ever-deepening relationship with Christ–found especially in the Eucharist, as well as in the poor–that we ourselves are rescued from the danger of losing our way.

Revelation, relationship and rescue. Crucial steps by which we allow God to lead us across the junction of this world, to the safety of our heavenly home. But what relevance does this have for us? We for whom martyrdom seems far too remote a possibility. And whose lives often feel more like a speeding expressway, than a troublesome junction? Yet isn’t it particularly when life seems so fast, that it becomes all the more important to ensure that we’re moving in the right direction? What a disaster it would be, to reach the end of the highway, only to find ourselves at the wrong destination.

Sisters and brothers, how might we help one another to slow down from time to time, and to check our bearings today?