THE DOCILITY OF ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL

“Your heralds brought glad tidings to greatest and to least; They told all men to hasten to share the great kings feast. And this was all their teaching in every deed and word, to all alike proclaiming: One Church, one Faith, one Lord.” –Edward H. Plumptre.

            In the life of the two great apostles Peter and Paul, we see the marvels of God’s glorious work and manifestation. The Divine hand worked on them and through them brought about his glorious plans. The glorious works performed by Peter, the prince of the apostles, cannot be recounted without great awe. Jesus named him as his vicar and set him as a foundation upon which he built his church. Jesus asked him to feed his lamb and prayed that his faith will not fail. After the Pentecost, we see him preaching fearlessly and boldly before the people of Israel, and even to disobeying the Sanhedrin saying, that is better to obey God rather than men. What can we say about the mighty miracles performed by this great apostle? It is recorded that the sick was brought out on the road, so that his shadow can fall on them for healing (Acts 5:15). He raised the dead and wrought so many other glorious works. Finally, he bore the ultimate witness by giving his life for the sake of his love for Christ.

            What of the glorious St. Paul? He is rightly referred to as thegreatest missionary of all time. His missionary zeal and firmness in proclaiming the word of God to all nations cannot be measured. Despite the difficulties that accompany the work, he never relented. Both in hunger and

abandonment, in pain and tribulation, in persecution and punishments. He held fast to Christ message and proclaimed it both to the young and old. He used his intelligence to propagate the mission entrusted to him and wrote greatly about our new dispensation in Christ Jesus. His life was so much exemplary that he was confident enough to say that, he(Paul) should be imitated as he imitates Christ, for he did not live again but Christ lived in him. Nor was he lacking in glorious miracles, the Acts of the Apostles records many great miracles performed by this Apostle to the Gentiles. Even imprisonment could not stop him from proclaiming the word, and finally he too offered life for the love of his redeemer.

            However, all we see in the life of these two great pillars of the Church, is just an effect of their great docility to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. What is special about Peter that he should become this glorious. A fisherman, who could not even understand the mission of his master and warranted been called ‘Satan’ by the Divine Wisdom. A fearful man who denied his master, not to soldiers but to a maid. How then did he stand and proclaim Christ before the world, even to giving his life? What of Paul, the popular Saul whose name brought fear and trembling in the minds of the Believers. Paul, who saw himself doing what he doesn’t want to do. Paul himself said that he used to be a blasphemer, a persecutor and contemptuous, and that he was the greatest of sinners (Cf. 1 Tim. 1:13, 15). How, then, did he give his life to the same mission he tried to destroy?

            What really happened? Paul answered this question in his letter to the Romans. He said, “All who are guided by the Spirit of God are Sons of God, for what you received is not the Spirit of slavery to bring you back into fear, you received the Spirit of adoption, enabling us to cry out, ‘Abba, Father!” (Rom. 8:14-15). It is to their docility to the promptings of the Spirit of Truth, which they received, that they owe their greatness.

            Nevertheless, many of us have received this same Spirit in Baptism and Confirmation. How open are we to the promptings of this Spirit? Do we allow ourselves to be led or do we stubbornly do our own will? Do we obey the promptings of our conscience to do what we know is right or do we try to ignore it?

Paul said, “Here is a saying that you can rely on and nobody should doubt: that Christ came into the world to save sinners. I myself am the greatest of them; and if mercy has been shown to me, it is because Jesus Christ meant to make me the leading example of his inexhaustible patience for all the other people who were later to trust in him for eternal life. (1 Tim. 1:15-16)

            Don’t you think it would be a good idea, if you too are a leading example of God’s patience and love. BE DOCILE TO THE SPIRIT.