Compassion, not judgement.

Once again a Sunday in Ordinary Time is displaced. This weekend is the celebration of two of our most important saints – Peter and Paul.

A story from the desert fathers relates how Abba Moses the Black, a highly respected leader, was called upon to judge a brother who had sinned. At first he refused. However, when one of the priests sent for him, he headed out, dragging behind him a rickety basket filled with sand. The monks who cane out to meet him were mystified. “What is this, Father?,” they inquired.

Said Abba Moses, “My sins run out behind me and I do not see them, yet today I have come to judge the faults of another.” At that the monks promptly forgave the brother they had judged.

Like Saints Peter and Paul, Abba Moses was a church leader who recognized his own imperfections. As Gloria Hutchinson points out, We intend to be faithful, loving, and just. Yet temptation often punches holes in our basket filled good intentions. Peter correctly sees Jesus as the Christ, the messiah in today’s gospel. Jesus proclaims him to be the rock and given the keys of the Kingdom of heaven. Yet Peter denies Jesus three times, abandons him at the cross, even doubts the first word of his resurrection. Peter is both faithful and at other times losing the way.

Paul becomes the great preacher to the gentiles. In fact this weekend begins a year long year dedicated to the work and faith of Paul. He boldly proclaims to Timothy, “I have completed the race; I have kept the faith. Yet early on he persecuted those first followers of Jesus, watching as Stephen was being stoned. His impatience with others led to conflict with Peter and others in the church. Paul is both faithful and at other times losing the way.

Like Peter and Paul you and I are also faithful but at times we lose the way. We take time in prayer, we share the gifts God has given us. Through us others come to experience the love of God. Yet there are times when our words and actions are not God like. Like Peter we are shackled in prison. Patti Normile writes, we may feel shackled by chains of worry, negative thinking, or of being critical or nagging, or of compulsive behaviors: shopping sports or TV addiction, a need to have our own way in all matters, food, or alcohol, or drug abuse.

Peter and Paul are remembered not because of their strength, but because of their humility and their recognition of needing God in their lives. Through prayer they found forgiveness and the strength to set aside their own needs and do God’s will.

Through prayer and sacraments each of us can also be freed from the chains that bind us and be a people who are grateful, merciful, compassionate, loving, and peaceful.

On this feast of Peter and Paul, let us recall our own imperfections and thank God for the frail humanity that Jesus knows so well. Nourished by this Eucharist may we understand we are sent out to be Christ’s body and blood in this world. May our words and actions be those of compassion rather than judgment.