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Happy Feast Day of Saints Peter and Paul, and welcome to your monthly essay on the Saints and their Temperaments!

At Mass this morning, I was thinking about CONVERSION in reference to these two saints. We have a special feast for the Conversion of St. Paul, celebrated in January. We know about his dramatic encounter with Christ (Acts 9:3-6): "And as he went on his journey, it came to pass that he drew nigh to Damascus; and suddenly a light from heaven shined round about him. And falling on the ground, he heard a voice saying to him: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Who said: Who art thou, Lord? And he: I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the goad. And he trembling and astonished, said: Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?"

Paul, as a choleric, was an all-or-nothing-type person. He rode (or marched) headlong toward Damascus breathing fire and threats against the Christians, and then when he was figuratively "smacked in the head" by Our Lord, he immediately reversed direction. He shows us an excellent example of immediately accepting God's Will, once it was revealed to him. He calls himself the "least of the Apostles" (1 Cor. 15:9) because he knows that he did wrong. God doesn't will our sins, but He sometimes uses them to our ultimate benefit. In this case, Paul's mistakes helped to make (and keep) him humble.

Peter's conversion, at first glance, is not as dramatic. "And Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea (for they were fishers) And he saith to them: Come ye after me, and I will make you to be fishers of men. And they immediately leaving their nets, followed him." (Matt. 4:18-20)

Peter didn't have to be knocked down - as a sanguine, he was eager to try new things and made decisions from his heart. He saw the Lord, heard His invitation, and leapt to follow Him. But Peter still needed his own conversion, as we all do. As Peter's time following the Master progressed, sometimes he was a hero, like when he answered Our Lord's question about what men were saying about him. Our Lord then asked the Apostles what they thought about him, and Peter impulsively declared, "Thou art Christ, the Son of the Living God." (Matt. 16:16)

But other times Peter showed his human frailty. When Our Lord told him that He would suffer and die, Peter didn't accept God's Will immediately. He thought he was defending his Lord, but he was actually bucking the Divine Plan: "Peter...began to rebuke him, saying: Lord, be it far from thee, this shall not be unto thee." Our Lord literally "turned on" Peter and chastised him. "Who turning, said to Peter: Go behind me, Satan, thou art a scandal unto me: because thou savourest not the things that are of God, but the things that are of men. Then Jesus said to his disciples: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall find it." (Matt 16:22-25)

Peter was probably perplexed by this...He is Lord of all, yet He will suffer and die? When, as we see in Fra Angelico's painting above, the Pharisees and their henchmen came to take Our Lord away, Peter drew his sword and hacked off an ear We can imagine his enthusiasm and fire and -- almost joy -- in thinking that he can engage in battle side by side with Jesus, going down fighting. But then Our Lord tells him no and rebukes him again. Peter's heart had not yet been converted to God's Plan of Redemption. He still thought that he must fight evil using temporal means.

He was so disoriented and confused by this, that he ran away. When he sneaked back with John into the portico of the high priest, to see what was happening to Our Lord, he denied his friendship with the Savior. Why? Because he had not converted, and he was fearful and confused. After Our Lord gave Peter that one look, the look that converted him, he went out and wept for his sins. "And the Lord turning looked on Peter." (Luke 22:61) This was when Peter's conversion truly began. He learned his own weakness, and put his faith in God, instead of in himself.

Paul learned it in one flash of blinding clarity. Peter came to it in a different way. Both reacted according to their temperaments, and both converted. God knows each of us intimately, and He knows the best way to offer the path of conversion to each of us. We have that opportunity to convert our hearts to His Path, to His Law, to His Will, just like Saints Peter and Paul.

Once they were themselves converted, they were able to go forth, and through the Holy Spirit, convert others. In Peter's first sermon after Pentecost: "They therefore that received his word, were baptized; and there were added in that day about three thousand souls." (Acts 2:41) Three thousand souls were converted by Peter's first sermon, after his conversion! My friend Mary says that when she gets to Heaven, she wants to hear a replay of that sermon! :)

Paul, likewise, after he prayed and learned from the other Apostles, began to teach others. "And Barnabas went to Tarsus to seek Saul: whom, when he had found, he brought to Antioch. And they conversed there in the church a whole year; and they taught a great multitude, so that at Antioch the disciples were first named Christians." (Acts 11:25-26) Saul, renamed Paul, helped to spread the Gospel to the people of Antioch, and they were the ones to first use the title "Christian."

When we convert our hearts, then we will be able to help others. What message has the Lord been trying to get through to us? In what way are we "kicking against the goad" like Paul, or "savoring not the things that are of God" like Peter?

Peter the sanguine and Paul the choleric would never have been able to convert others, if they had not first converted themselves to God, fully and completely, without reservation. Let us learn from them today...

As Our Lord told Peter and the disciples, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall find it."

My upcoming book, "Piety and Personality: The Temperaments of the Saints" is scheduled to be released by TAN Books in Spring, 2025. Peter and Paul each have their own chapter in that book. I am currently working on a second nonfiction book, and St. Peter will have another chapter in that one! Please keep these writing projects in your prayers! Thank you.