Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles, June 29, 2025

This weekend (June 29-30) we celebrate the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. Because of the significance of this feast, we celebrate it on Sunday; it takes precedence over the Sunday readings and prayers.

Peter and Paul are seen as the greatest and most important of the apostles, though I believe that an argument can be made for the equal importance of our patron, Saint John the Evangelist, the author of the fourth gospel and the beloved friend of the Lord.

Despite his flaws and failures, Peter was the leader chosen by Jesus. He eventually became a missionary who ultimately made his way to Rome. He is acknowledged as the first Bishop of Rome and since then every Pope is the Bishop of Rome. Peter failed the Lord on the night of His arrest by denying that he knew Christ because of fear. But later Peter died for Jesus, crucified like Christ in Rome. There is a tradition that Peter was crucified upside down.

Paul was a persecutor of the Church who met the risen Christ on the road to Damascus and then became the greatest missionary for Christ. His missionary journeys took him all over the northern Mediterranean coasts, and eventually he was taken to Rome as a prisoner where he was eventually beheaded. Peter and Paul were not perfect men and both had their sinful pasts. But both became heroes for Christ. In a sense, they are founders of the Church. Every diocese has a patron, and Saint Peter and Paul are the patrons of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Our cathedral is dedicated to them.

In the Creed, we profess that the Church is one, holy, catholic and apostolic. The Church professes one faith everywhere in the world (catholic means universal) and throughout history, from the time of Peter and Paul to the present day; thus the faith is apostolic, that is, the same faith that the apostles taught in the first century is the faith we believe in today. Pope Leo is the successor of Peter, the guarantor of the apostolic faith in our day. And professing the one faith that is universal and the same throughout history leads us to holiness.

For us Catholics, Saint Peter is important. Jesus said that the Church would be built on the faith of Peter and that the gates of hell would never prevail against it. Moreover, Peter was given the keys to the kingdom, with the power to bind and loose, with the promise that heaven would respect Peter’s binding and loosing.

Paul was the great missionary, suffering unimaginable tortures, and yet never stopped his proclamation of Christ. Both Peter and Paul died for Christ.

As we celebrate this great feast, be grateful that you believe the apostolic faith and do your best in 2025 to be faithful to the faith.

Mass Intentions

It has long been a pious custom in the Catholic Church to offer Masses for the living and the dead. Of course, the benefits of the Mass are infinite since it is a re-experiencing of the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In every Mass, Jesus is truly present and we enter into His once and forever offering of Himself to the Father. Yet, Catholics still offer Mass for certain persons and individuals. The customary offering for Masses is $10 which is an offering toward the support of priestly ministry. At Saint John’s for many years, we have also accepted $5 offerings, “unannounced Masses”, which have been typically sent to dioceses in poor countries.

Effective August 1, we will no longer accept unannounced Masses. $5 offerings are not sufficient, even in poor countries. Besides, it costs Saint John Church $50 every time we wire Mass money to India or Africa. And sometimes we don’t have enough announced Masses to satisfy the 3 Masses that we offer each day at Saint John’s. Because we have many Masses during the week, we have the capacity to satisfy the pious desire of our people to offer Masses for intentions and individual persons.

We encourage people to offer Masses for their intentions, but beginning August 1, all Masses will be announced and we ask for at least a $10 donation.

stjohnsphilly.org