SOLEMNITY OF SAINTS PETER AND PAUL: POOR MAN, RICH MAN
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SAINTS ALIVE! JUNE 29: SOLEMNITY OF SAINTS PETER AND PAUL
POOR MAN, RICH MAN
Peter was a fisherman who cast his nets in the Sea of Galilee. Jesus found him here and called him to become a disciple. In Luke, Jesus’s invitation to Peter was preceded by a chance encounter: Needing to avoid a swarming crowd, Jesus got into a boat that belonged to Simon. After preaching, Jesus “said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.’ Simon said in reply, ‘Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.’” Simon caught so much fish that the nets were breaking and the boats were sinking.
Fishing is a hard, risky trade with uncertain pay-offs and rarely a big payday. Peter was poor and uneducated; his eloquence and wisdom were hidden until Pentecost when he was enflamed by the Holy Spirit.
Paul was a tentmaker with Roman citizenship. Tentmakers reaped considerably more income than fishermen earned. He was also wise and eloquent, which he displayed in his debate with the Greeks in Acts, Chapter 17.
These two men could not have been more different from each other. But that is where I am wrong. God does not see opposites; we do. Though the two apostles had their disagreements, these were always resolved and never detracted from their unity in preaching the Good News.
Saints Peter and Paul were in solidarity with each: poor man, rich man.
Every mass gives us a reminder that we, too, live in solidarity with each other through participation in the Eucharist, an opportunity to recommit ourselves to each other. St. Pope John Paul II wrote that, “A truly Eucharistic community cannot be closed in upon itself” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, #39); rather the Eucharist challenges us to recognize our place within a community and the human family.
The Eucharist beckons us to be in solidarity with one another. St. Paul taught that the celebration of the Eucharist is insincere – not passed over into the concrete practice of love – if there are divisions within the community based on class (1 Cor 11), status, or privilege (Rom 12), or if there are factions within the community (1 Cor 1).
Solidarity is one criteria for a grant from the U.S. Bishops’ Catholic Campaign for Human Development. It’s phrased as empowerment – “People living in poverty must have the dominant voice in the organization. At least 50 percent of the members of the governing board of the applicant organization should be comprised of individuals who are involuntarily low-income.”— but I never fail to stress that if 50% of the decision makers are low-income, then 50% of the decision makers live above the poverty level. Poor people and rich people working together in solidarity towards alleviating the root causes of the members’ poverty.
That is, solidarity is more than those with resources reaching out to those without. It is also those lacking resources accepting and trusting those who aren’t poor. Then working together.
Solidarity is also a guideline for a grant: “Positive consideration will be given to organizations that generate cooperation among and within diverse groups, in the interest of a more integrated and mutually understanding society.” More than a warm feeling, solidarity is genuine cooperation. For example, the focus of many grantees in the Archdiocese of Portland is the poverty in their Latino community. These grantees are strongly encouraged to build cooperation with Anglo-dominated organizations.
Like St. Peter and St. Paul, poor man, rich man; Galilean and Roman citizen; cooperating to build God’s church here on earth.