Lectio the Liturgy: Sunday, November 16, 2025

Julie Storr shares a reflection on the Collect for the Dedication of the Basilicas of Sts. Peter and Paul.

This week, I’ve decided to stay with the special feasts we find on the liturgical calendar for November. This feast day follows closely to a pilgrimage to Italy that my husband and I are leading so I could not miss the opportunity to reflect on the Collect for the Dedication of the Basilicas of Sts. Peter and Paul:

Defend your Church, O Lord, by the protection of the holy Apostles, that, as she received from them the beginnings of her knowledge of things divine, so through them she may receive, even to the end of the world, an increase in heavenly grace. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son. who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

We Are the Church Militant

In the first step of my writing process, I put my thoughts and inspirations together in my head. This week, as I was meditating on this prayer, I was sitting with 20,000+ people in St. Peter’s Square in Rome. The first line of this prayer came to life as against the clear Roman sky, the holy Apostles, who with Jesus, crown the top of St. Peter’s Basilica. Atop the colonnades, stand an additional 140 holy (mostly lower case) apostles, who also seem to stand on guard, doing exactly what this prayer asks, that they defend the Church with their protection.

These apostles and disciples were people just like us, workers, writers, and artists. They were laity and clergy. They were the Church militant, defending what they loved. They lived and died defending that love, which is the Church that Christ founded. Although they are no longer in their earthy body, dead to the world, they are alive in Christ.

They are now the Church Triumphant and their work, inspired by the Holy Spirit, still teaches us today. Because they now reign with Jesus in heaven, they intercede for us, so that the Church would always receive an increase of grace.

Defenders of the Faith

As I gazed on those statues, I also thought about the statue of Paul in front of the church that protects his remains, St. Paul Outside the Walls. You can tell which statues portray Paul as he carries a sword, the instrument which took his life, but it also reminded me of the words Paul used to teach, correct, and help the followers of Christ grow in faith.

As I looked around the Square that morning, I had this thought that during a Papal audience is a really good time to see Rome. Since that’s where everyone is, there would be much smaller lines everywhere else. But then it occurred to me that it wasn’t the other attractions that brought them to Rome. What brought them to Rome is where they already were: the heart of the Church.

The heart of the Church isn’t only found in Vatican City. It is in you just like it was in the holy Apostles. Just like the apostles who lived in the thousands of years before us, we are the defenders now. By order of our Baptism, God has equipped each of us with talents and gifts that are to be used for the defense and growth of the Faith. Pick a Saint or ask a Saint to choose you. Let them guide you and teach you so you can be a great defender, too.