Why is Father wearing red vestments? I hear you cry. Well, today we celebrate the phenomenon known as the ‘external solemnity’ – where, for pastoral reasons, in both expressions of the Roman Rite, it is permissible to substitute an important feast for the regular Sunday Liturgy. Today that feast is SS. Peter & Paul, which we celebrated last Thursday. In many parts of the world, this feast is a Holy Day of Obligation. In the USA it is not, but for us as Catholics, a key part of our identity is the city of Rome, and its place in God’s plan.

Rome provides the backdrop for the whole of the Lord’s life on Earth. He was born In a time when the iron fist of Roman occupation gripped the people of the Middle East like a vice. Judaea was a new Province – it had only been conquered 60 years before Our Lord’s life – and in many ways it was still a militarized and occupied zone. Figures like Quirinius and Pontius Pilate are not merely biblical characters. They have a secular history entirely outside of their dealings with Christ. They were real people, with real political power. And they were sent by the Emperor who lived in Rome.

How astonishing then, that the occupying force should become the seat of the Church! The Lord knew, but who else could have predicted that Rome would one day be the See of the Fisherman, whose bishop would exercise his ministry over the Universal Church? That its pagan temples and grand basilicas would cede their place to vast churches? That the Cross would become its proudest banner?

This happened because the two most important foundations of Christ’s Church watered the Roman soil with their blood. SS. Peter and Paul; so very different from each other in character, but utterly essential to the progress of the Gospel. As the hymn goes, O felix Roma! O happy Rome! Let us then, as we embark together on a new chapter in the life of this Church, look to the unity that God provides (and demands) in bringing together all people for the service of that same Gospel. There is space for everyone – and no one is here by accident. God bless you all – and bless your families. Happy Feast!