Not far from the Colosseum in Rome, and beside the Emperor Nero`s House of Gold, there stands today the Church of S. Peter in Chains. On display in that church are the chains in which S. Peter was supposedly held bound while a prisoner in Rome. They were not the first chains that Peter ever endured, for there were the double chains described in the Acts of the Apostles Chapter 12: 1-11, along with the sets of guards to keep the leader of the Christians well in his place.
Many years later, another great apostle S. Paul, would also be put in chains in Jerusalem and threatened with death. On that occasion, the prisoner had to appeal to Rome and to the emperor, to escape the threats of his enemies. In this manner the two great apostles found themselves in the capital city of the empire in the reign of the Emperor Nero.
The tradition of the Church tells us that when the persecution of the Christians broke out after the fire of Rome in AD 64, first Peter and later Paul were put to death. Jesus had told Peter, many years before, that one day he would be taken where he would rather not go. Paul too, had been told by the Lord that he would suffer greatly for the sake of his name.
Yet it would be a great mistake to think of these two men in depressing terms, as they were anything but depressing in what they stood for. The world they lived in was violent, and the times were hard and stressful, but they were men of radiant faith and inspired life. Their world was positive and filled with hope. They were followers of Christ, the son of God, who had conquered sin and death.
When Jesus was going around Galilee, he came to the Gentile territory of Caesarea Philippi. There away from the growing clamour that surrounded him, Jesus asked his disciples a vital question. “Who do people think I am?” The question was followed by another: “Who do you think I am?” (Matthew 16:13-19) The Answer to this question would determine their lives thereafter.
Sometimes we do not know what we really think about a matter until the question is boldly put to us. Then the question seems to go deep within us in search of its corresponding reply and from somewhere deep inside us there comes a previously unvoiced assertion of our conviction and our belief. “You are the Christ,” said Peter, “the Son of the living God.”
Until this moment Peter had never said those words. He had lived with a growing impression of the goodness and genuineness of the young carpenter of Nazareth. Commonsense fisherman that he was, he could tell the difference between an honest man and a fool. His growing faith was not in any fool. In Caesarea, away from the bias of enthusiastic crowds, in neutral, Gentile territory, the question was put, and the surprising answer given.
The answer Peter gave was not simply a piece of information, or a personal opinion. It was an act of commitment. It was a confession of belief. It was a total dedication of himself to Jesus. To say that Jesus is the Son of God changes everything about life: it makes the world a new place; it makes life itself an infinite gift; it does away with the power of death; it conquers evil and sin and makes us reborn.
That is why S. Paul was happy to spend his life for the proclamation of the gospel. His whole life was a great self-offering in return for the love that God had showered on him. As the end drew near he calmly said, “The time has come for me to be gone. I have fought the good fight to the end; I have run the race to the finish; I have kept the faith.” Like Peter before him, Paul knew that evil deeds would kill him in the end, but he also knew that the Lord would bring him safely to the heavenly kingdom. He knew that this kingdom is open to all of us who long for Christ.
This year we are fortunate that the Solemnity of Ss. Peter & Paul, the 29th June falls on a Sunday. This feast calls us to dedicate our lives anew to the service of the risen Jesus, and his Church, and to proclaim to the world that Jesus Christ is Lord.
