Thoughts from the Early Church

Commentary by Peter of Blois

You are Peter, and I will give you
the keys of the kingdom of heaven
filled (Matthew 16:19)

I saw men united, and an angel of the Lord spoke, saying: These are holy men who have become friends of God." Who are these men who are united? Surely they are the venerable princes of the earth and of the Church, Peter and Paul. The same faith united them; the same city, the same way of life, the same day made them equal in martyrdom under the same tyrant. Since then they have been united in so many ways, it is right that they share the same feast.

Christ changed Saul into Paul, and Simon into Peter: for it is of these that the prophet had once foretold: And he will call his servants by a new name. You are Peter, Christ said, and on this rock I will build my church. The rock was Christ, and Christ gave Peter his own name, so that Peter might be a rock. For as, in the desert, water flowed from the rock for the thirsty people, so too there flowed from Peter a saving confession of faith for others who were thirsty for faith.

When Christ was about to ascend to heaven, he entrusted to Peter the feeding of his sheep and lambs. Peter had been used to steering a small boat, but now Christ put him at the helm of a great ship: he made him head of the whole Church. To Peter, as the best steward, he handed over the keys of his house. Peter's righteousness made him such a powerful judge that the judgment of heaven depends on his decision; not even an angel would presume to challenge his sentence.

When the Lord asked him who people were saying he was, in a brief confession of faith Peter proclaimed the mystery of the divine majesty in Christ. It was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you, Peter (for it is not flesh and blood that will possess the kingdom of God), but the Spirit of God the Father, who is in heaven. The admirable fisherman, who once searched the depths of the sea, faithfully confessed the inscrutable mystery of the godhead in Christ. In answer to the lord’s question: “Peter, do you love me?” Peter blotted out the triple denial with a triple confession of faith.

Peter fell, Paul was thrown to the ground, both were made weak that they might rise again strong and perfect. When Peter relied on his own strength, the intrepidity of his promise to stand firm was matched by the gravity of his fall. Yet, after that detestable sin of apostasy Peter obtained the highest place among the teachers of the faith and in the Church. Paul, who was struck blind and thrown to the ground, was raised to the third heaven to contemplate, with purified mental eye, the heavenly court’s inexpressible glory.

I believe that by remembering the glorious death of these two, we honor all the apostles an martyrs; for we venerate them as martyrs and as the most outstanding of the apostles, How blessed is the martyrdom, how glorious the death that makes those who die with Christ immortal, so that united with him in a death like his they now reign with him! To the eyes of the foolish they appeared to die, and their death was thought an affliction; but blessed are those who die in the Lord. They fell asleep in Christ to become co-heirs with Christ.

Homilies on the First Letter to the Corinthians
24, 4: PG 61, 204-205

**From Saint Louis University