Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles
Today, on the solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, we hear defining stories of their lives. Peter is very different from the ‘soft rock’ that denied Jesus 3 times. He has been hardened into diamond, and courageously proclaims the gospel, even after he sees his brother apostles killed by an evil king. After seeing Jesus’s death and resurrection, he no longer is afraid of being poured out. Similarly, Paul writes to his fellow Christians that he is being poured out like a libation. The first time I really looked at this reading I had to look that last word up; a libation is a ritual pouring out of water or sand or ashes. When people scatter ashes, that’s a libation. When you ‘pour one out’ in memory of a buddy lost and gone, it’s a libation.
We will all be spent one day. When our life trickles away or is poured out generously, the flow cannot be frozen or stopped. The question is, for what are we living? Will our purpose be undeniable at the time of our death? It’s worth taking a long time to consider…a long time…consider your calling. Are you allowing God to pour you out, or are you trying to save the flow for something else, letting just the drips you can’t stop get out? May we seek the Spirit’s calling for us, to give us direction and the courage to follow wherever God leads us. Amen.
-Chris Nieport