T W O STARS IN THE 

DRAMA OF LIFE 

May I begin this concluding talk in 
our series by defining what is a saint? 
A saint is one who has reached his 
final and ultimate goal of eternal happi-
ness with God in Heaven. 

In the drama of life God wants all of 
us to strive for sanctity. He wants all 
of us to become saints. For all this is 
a difficult task. Many appear to fail 
completely in their striving. Many 
others, striving with difficulty, appear 
to attain to a degree of sanctity before 
death comes. For knowledge of the 
success or failure of all of these to 
reach the goal of eternal happiness, 
we shall have to await the day of final 
judgment. But there are other many who 
have given incontestible proof that 
they have won the highest rating for 
their acting. The quality of their per-
formance on the stage of the world, and 
the miracles worked after their deaths 
through their intercession, are the 
evidence that they have been given the 
coveted Oscar of saint and shine today 
in God's heaven as stars. 

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But the difficulty of living a holy 
and saintly life can be and often is 
discouraging. Accordingly defense for 
failure not infrequently is expressed by 
the notion that saints are born and not 
made. This notion easily is refuted. 
The saint who is knownas Mary Magdalen 
had been leading anything but a saintly, 
a holy life before she met the Master in 
the home of Simon the Pharisee. In 
fact, according to the Evangelist, 
because of her, Simon questioned even 
the quality and character of Jesus 
Himself, as he harbored the thought: 
"This man, if he were a prophet, would 
know surely who and what manner of 
woman this is that toucheth him, that 
she is a sinner." There is another who 
is credited with having won the award 
of sainthood from Jesus Himself when 
He said, "This day thou shalt be with 
Me in Paradise." Dismas, the name 
commonly given to the "Thief of Para-
dise," had just spoken his own eval-
uation. Two criminals had been con-
demned to die by crucifixion with Jesus. 
"And one of those robbers who were 
hanged, blasphemed Him saying: If thou 
be the Christ save thyself and us. But 
the other answering rebuked him saying: 
Neither dost thou fear God, seeing thou 



art under the same condemnation? And 
we indeed justly, 'for we receive the due 
reward of our deeds; but this man hath 
done no evil." Late come to the ac-
knowledgment of the divinity of Jesus, 
it was at the very end of his sinful life 
that Di smas turned to Jesus and said, 
"Lord, remember me when Thou shalt 
come into Thy kingdom." No one truly 
would say that Mary of Magdala was 
born a saint! That Dismas was born a 
saint! Each became a saint in the 
humble acknowledgment of personal 
waywardness and in the subsequent 
whole submission to the divine will. 

Discouragement in the task of be-
coming a saint sometimes is defended on 
the score that sanctity is for the learned. 
When we think of the brilliant minds of 
Saint Augustine and of St. Thomas 
Aquinas we feel a hopelessness in 
trying to become saints. Then should 
we be encouraged by recollection of a 
saint of the last century, whose dulness 
of intellect prompted serious doubt as 
to his fitness to becom da priest. Today 
this saint lovingly is called the Cure of 
Ars, Saint John Vianney. Another 
excuse is offered as to why there are not 
more saintly people in our own day. 
Saints lived only in the days of long 
ago! Saint Pius the Tenth, Saint Maria 



Goretti, to mention only two saints of 
the Twentieth Century, give the lie to 
that notion. The fact is that there are 
saints of all centuries; there are saints 
who were young and old; saints who 
were martyred, saints who died natural 
deaths; saints from every station of 
life, saints from among the laity and 
from amongst priests and religious. In 
fact so many and of such varied back-
grounds are the saints that one and 
another tell us that we too can strive 
for sanctity and become saints if we 
make the effort, with the help of God's 
grace, to rise above whatever may be 
the difficulties that beset us. 

Inspiration and encouragement to 
make the effort is given to all of us by 
the Princes of the Apostles, Peter and 
Paul, who have proven themselves out-
standing stars in the drama of life. In 
the one and the other, each of us can 
find something of a likeness to our-
selves. Neither of them was born a 
saint. Each of them is known to have 
made serious mistakes. For all that 
Petee never seriously had opposed the 
teachings of Jesus, he was the only one 
of the Apostles who denied that he knew 
the Master. Paul on the other hand, as 
Saul, professedly persecuted the fol-

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lowers of Christ. The strivings of both 
against their human weaknesses can't 
but raise our hopes. As we plod our 
ways across the world's stage, thought 
of them can confirm us in the mind that 
we too can become saints. 

Peter was the brother of Andrew. 
Andrew, a disciple of John the Baptist, 
had been led to Jesus by the Baptist 
when he said: "Behold the Lamb of 
God." Thereafter Andrew said to his 
brother: "We have found the Messias... 
and he brought him to Jesus." On see-
ing the two of them Jesus said: "Come 
ye after Me and I will make you to be 
fishers of men. And they immediately 
leaving their nets followed Him." 
Humble indeed was the origin of Peter. 
He was a simple fisherman. His worldly 
possessions were hardly more than the 
nets he used to ply his trade. Even 
according to the standards of his own 
day he was an unlettered man. None the 
less, he became a close follower of 
Christ. For all that Peter was in inti-
mate association with Christ for the 
next three years, his human weaknesses 
were constantly in evidence. More than 
once did he receive rebuke from the 
Master for his failings. Indeed it was 
strong language that Jesus used when 
He said to Peter: "Go behind me, 



Satan, thou art a scandal unto Me, 
because thou savorest not of the things 
that are of God, but the things that are 
of men." When in the midst of a storm, 
Peter and his fellow boatmen saw Jesus 
walking on the waters, they thought it 
was an apparition and were afraid. To 
confort them, Jesus said: "It is I, fear 
not!" Peter presumed to demand proof of 
the truth of Christ's words and said: 
"Lord, if it be Thou, bid me to come to 
Thee upon the waters. And He Said: 
Come!" With supreme confidence Peter 
descended from the boat and walked on 
the surface of the water. Presently a 
greater fear replaced bold presumption 
and he bagan to sink. Crying out. "Lord 
save me," again he merited rebuke as 
the Master said: " 0 , thou of little faith, 
why didst thou doubt?" When Peter, 
full of self confidence, dared to say: 
"Although all shall be scandalized in 
Thee, yet not I , " Jesus replie : "Amen 
I say to thee, today, even in this night, 
before-, the cock crow twice thou shalt 
deny me thrice." 

In spite of all his faults there were 
in Peter noble qualities. When the 
disciples were asked by Jesus: "Who 
do you say that I am?" Peter in a full 
profession of faith answered: "Thou art 
Christ, the Son of the living God." 

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When many of Christ's followers went 
back and walked no more with Him 
because they found His promise of the 
the Bucharist a hard saying, Peter 
pledged his loyalty. Christ asked: 
"Will you also go away? And Peter 
answered: Lord, to whan shall we go? 
Thou hast the words of eternal life." 
And the pride which led to Peter's 
denial of Christ was quickly replaced 
by humble repentance. When the Lord 
looked on His apostle after his triple 
denial, Peter remembered the word of the 
Lord and going out wept bitterly. 
After the Resurrection and Ascension 
of Jesus, and following the coming of 
the Holy Ghost on the Apostles, Peter 
put no bounds on his faith, his seal, his 
determination to follow closely in his 
Master's footsteps. In the end he wel-
comed the same fate that terminated the 
mortal life of Jesus. Peter too was 
crucified, but with head downward. How 
fully true humility has replaced the 
bold, presumptuous pride of his earlier 
years. Though he would submit to 
cricifixion, he deemed himself not 
worthy to die e aictly as had his Master. 
Though not born a saint, though he had 
many failings, he did rise to the heights 
of sanctity and gives encouragement to 

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all of us to-day to become saints. Self 
and self interest are frightful obstacles 
to sanctity. They were overcome by 
Peter. They can be overcome by us! 

Paul, co-apostle with Peter, was of 
a different character. As Saul, he had 
not had the good fortune to be a personal 
follower of Jesus. In fact he had been 
antagonistic, if not to Christ personally, 
at least certainly to His teachings and 
His disciples. Scripture te Is us, 
"Saul made havoc of the Church, entering 
in from house to house, and dragging 
away men and women, committed them 
to prison." "He breathed out threaten-
ings and slaughter against the dis-
ciples of the Lord, and went to the High 
Priest and asked to him letters to 
Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he 
found any men and women of this way, 
he might bring them bound to Jerusalem." 
Surely no one would say that Saul was 
bom a saint! Possibly he was honestly 
convinced that he was doing God a 
service in striving to preserve all the 
old laws and customs, but actually he 
was opposing the teachings and the re-
velation of Jesus Christ. On his way to 
Damascus, to cany on his persecution 
of the followers of Christ, Saul was 
smitten by God's grace. Struck from his 



horse he heard a voice: "Saul, Saul, 
why persecutest thou Me?" To which 
Saul replied: "Who art Thou, Lord?. 
What wilt Thou have me to do?" En-
lightened and instructed, thereinafter 
Saul became Paul and he verified the 
words spoken about him by Christ to 
Ananias: "This man is to me a vessel 
of election.. .1 will show him how great 
things he must suffer for my name's 
sake." Paul himself has given us a 
clear picture of some of his sufferings 
for Christ when he wrote to the Corin-
thians: "Five times did I receive 
forty stripes, save one; thrice was I 
beaten with rods; once I was stoned; 
thrice I suffered shipwreck; a night and 
a day I was in the depths of the sea. 
In journeying often, in perils of waters, 
in perils of robbers, in perils from my 
own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, 
in perils in the city, in perils in the 
wilderness, in perils in the sea, in 
perils from false bretheen; in labor and 
painfulness, in much watchings, in 
hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in 
cold and nakedness." 

This recital of his sufferings was 
made by Paul not proudly but humbly. 
He was well aware of his own human 
weakness. As he wrote on another 
occasion: " I chastize my body and 

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bring it into subjection lest perhaps, 
when I have preached to others. I 
myself should become a castaway." 
Conscious that pride in God's favors 
towards him easily could lead to his 
own undoing, he has not hesitated to 
record for us: "Lest the greatness of 
the revelations should exalt me, there 
was given to me a sting of the flesh, an 
angel of Satan, to buffet me. For which 
thing thrice I besought the Lord that it 
might depart from me. And He said to 
me: "My grace is sufficient for thee; 
for power is made perfect in infirmity." 
And Paul continues: "Gladly therefore 
will I glory in my infirmities, that the 
power of Christ may dwell in me. For 
which cause I please myself in my 
infirmities,in reproaches,in necessities, 
in persecution, in distresses for Christ. 
For when I am weak then I am power-
ful." Humbly he acknowledges: " I can 
do all things in Him who strengthened 
me." 

Saint Paul was outstanding as an 
Apostle for many reasons. He journeyed 
indefatigably over most of the then 
known world. He preached incessantly 
for God's hones and glory. He endured 
all manner of trials if only he might 
win souls to the truth. He counted not 



the cost as he made himself all things 
to all men, that he might save all. But 
the real greatness of this Prince of the 
Apostles is to be found in the qualities 
of his soul so fully and humbly ex-
pressed when he wrote! to the Calatians: 
"God forbid that I should glory save in 
the cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ, by 
whom the world is crucified to me and I 
to the world." "With Christ I am nailed 
to the cross, and I live, now not I, but 
Christ liveth in me." He has one only 
objective in life. He feared no trial or 
adversity, no physical affliction or 
spiritual suffering. As he put it: "1 am 
sure that neither death, nor life, ...nor 
things present, nor things to come, nor 
nor might, nor height, nor depth, nor 
any other creature shall be able to se-
parate us from the love of God which is 
in Christ Jesus, our Lord." And so it 
is no surprise, when his end was near 
at hand, that he wrote to his faithful 
disciple, Timothy: " I am even now 
ready to be sacrificed, and the time of 
my dissolution is at hand. I have 
fought a good fight, I have finished my 
course, I have kept the faith. As to the 
rest, there is laid up for me a crown of 
justice which the Lord, the just Judge 
will render to me in that day, and not 

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only to me, but to them also that love 
His coming." 

Princes of the Apostles, Peter and 
Paul, star performers in the drama of 
life, saints to-day in God's heaven! 
What hope and chcouragement they give 
all of us. Their struggles during life 
and their glory after death instill con-
fidence in us who, like them, have not 
been born saints. They have reached 
the goal destined for them by God. We 
too can reach that goal of sanctity and 
eternal happiness. Whether we have 
complete freedom to roam the stage of 
the world, or are confined to the im-
prisoning walls of the shut-in's re-
stricted guarters, Saints Peter and Paul 
are an example to all of us. Their 
years of active apostolate teach the 
busy man how to spend himself for love 
of God. Their imprisonments for their 
loyalty to God are an inspiration to 
those whose activities are restricted, be 
it by sickness or infirmity. One and all 
of us, as we play our parts in the drama 
of life, can win the Oscar of Saint in 
imitation of these two outstanding stars 
in the drama of life. 

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