by Rev. Herbert Nichols

If you have ever been to Rome or seen pictures of St. Peter's Basilica, it is awesome. While in Texas last month I had the privilege of viewing the St. Peter's exhibit on loan from the Vatican and touring four cities in the U.S. for the first time this summer.

What I found more impressive than the magnificent piece of architecture was the archeological discovery deep beneath -- a cemetery containing a burial room and the bones of a man whose feet had been chopped off. Tradition tells us that St. Peter had been crucified upside down on this very site. If this is true it reminds us that our churches are not built of brick and mortar but of flesh and blood.

When Peter recognizes Christ in today's gospel, as "son of the living God," it is then, that Jesus calls him "Rock" or Peter for the first time. The rock should not exist without the faith. Churches such as this one would not have been built without faith.

Peter, like you and I, was a man of flesh and blood, of self-preservation and responsibility, of confident faith and courage; though he was not perfect. But then who is?

In this sense we are no different from Peter and Paul. We are here today because we are people of faith. We begin and end every liturgy with the introduction to that faith, which as Jesus said to Peter, he also says to us: "No mere man has revealed this to you; but my heavenly Father." Faith is first, a gift from God, and only secondly, a response to His invitation.

Peter and Paul responded by giving all, even their lives for the sake of the gospel. Both journeyed to Rome knowing that there they would ultimately meet death, but they recognized this as their participation in the gospel imperative to give witness to all nations that Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord.

The first two readings are letters written during earlier imprisonments by Peter and Paul as they awaited their martyrdom. This Greek word, literally means to give witness, and that is what we are called to do - no less then to be witnesses or martyrs for Christ.

Not so much in death, as in the way we live our lives daily. Perhaps for some that is a more difficult type of martyrdom than death. More difficult perhaps, but that is the challenge in the 21st century.

It means at times a reversal of the comfortable way of thinking. It means at times disregarding the attitude that its okay because everybody does it.

At times it means speaking up and acknowledging what we know is true in spite of the consequences as it was Peter; or it may at times mean turning away from a former opinion or lifestyle that we have discovered to be less than helpful to our spiritual growth, as was the case for Paul.

We all know our strengths, but it is only when we acknowledge our limitations and failures, and place these insufficiencies at the disposal of Almighty God that He can turn our weak little faith into a solid rock.

As the end of his life approached, Paul wrote to Timothy:

"I have fought the fight. I have finished the race,(the bottom line)I have kept the faith and the merited crown that awaits me."