Feasts of St Peter and St. Paul -- the first leaders of the Jesus movement that spread to the ends of the earth.

The last two Saturdays I have had the privilege of presiding at family weddings.  Yesterday I was at St. Peter's Church in Oswego, NY, officiating at the wedding of my cousin Caitlin Oberst and Joe Langkamer.   Like yourself, I very much value the priority of family.  Would you believe that their honeymoon is hiking on a spiritual pilgrimage up the Inca trail of the Andes mountains in Peru with their sleeping bag and other gear on their backs. They are hiking to the ancient religious site of Machu Picchu.  Needless to say, they are in excellent physical and spiritual shape.  May God always bless them.

The feast we celebrate today is of the apostles Peter and Paul,  foundational leaders of our Church.  They were ordinary people made extraordinary by God's grace.  Most institutions would have been tempted to edit their bios to make their lives more heroic.  After all, Peter denied Jesus three times and Paul initially persecuted the followers of Jesus.  Yet it was their conversion that affirmed the power of God's grace and enabled them to preach mercy and reconciliation at the heart of the Good News.

Fast forward 2000 years to the successor of St. Peter, when Pope Francis was asked to describe himself in one of his initial interviews, he simply said:  "I am a sinner, a sinner forgiven by a merciful God."  In becoming the pastor of Holy Spirit as well as St. Joseph's, I simply use the words of Pope Francis:  "I am a sinner, a sinner forgiven by a merciful God."  My hope for Holy Spirit and St. Joseph's is that we are places of mercy that is freely given, where everyone is welcomed, loved, forgiven, and encouraged to live the good life of the Gospel.

Jesus asked the initial disciples and asks us as well:  "Who do you say that I am?"  May we find Christ in the mystery of the Eucharist, the source and summit of our prayer life.  May we also discover Christ in the hearts and in the lives of one another.  Just as we reverence the presence of Christ in the tabernacle, may we reverence the presence of Christ in the world  and in one another.