Like Peter and Paul

A Reflection on the Psalm for Sunday, June 29th, 2025:
The Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul

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Psalm 34
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R. The Lord set me free from all my fears.

I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. 

R. The Lord set me free from all my fears.

O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. 

R. The Lord set me free from all my fears.

Look to him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed. The poor one called, and the Lord heard, and saved that person from every trouble. 

R. The Lord set me free from all my fears.

The Angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. O taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. 

R. The Lord set me free from all my fears.

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

There’s something beautifully bold about celebrating Saints Peter and Paul on the same day. These two men couldn’t have been more different – Peter, impulsive and passionate; Paul, intellectual and relentless – yet God used them both to build His Church, proving once again that grace meets us exactly where we are.

The psalm for this feast – Psalm 34 – feels as if it could have been written by either of them. It’s raw, grateful, and full of wonder at the Lord’s mercy. “I sought the Lord, and he answered me,” it says, “and delivered me from all my fears.” Can’t you imagine Peter saying that after being freed from prison by an angel; or Paul, bruised and bloodied after yet another beating, still proclaiming God's faithfulness? These aren’t lines from a cozy devotional. They come from people who had every reason to be afraid – and every reason to believe.

As Catholic women today, most of us aren’t dodging Roman guards or surviving shipwrecks, but we do carry real fears about our children, our marriages, our futures, or the private battles no one else sees. We may not be in chains, but we often feel trapped by anxiety, expectations, or simply exhaustion. Psalm 34 doesn’t deny fear; it just doesn’t let fear win. It dares to say that God hears us when we cry out and that His rescue is not a maybe but a promise.

What I love most about this psalm is its invitation: “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” It’s not a demand to believe from afar; it’s a personal, sensory call to come close, to experience God for ourselves. It’s like being invited to the table by someone who’s been through it all and still says, “Come and see – He’s good.”

Peter and Paul had plenty of reasons to doubt, to give up, to stay quiet, but they didn’t. And maybe their secret was this: they kept coming back to the table. They kept tasting the goodness of the Lord, even when everything around them said otherwise.

So maybe today, in the middle of laundry piles or work deadlines or unexpected heartaches, we can do the same. We can pause, breathe, whisper a prayer and trust that the God who rescued Peter and Paul is still in the business of showing up.

Let’s bless the Lord not because life is always easy, but because He is always faithful. He still delivers. He still surrounds. And He still invites.


Theresa Langley​

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