The Year of Saint Paul
By Cardinal Justin Rigali
In anticipation of the two‑thousandth anniversary of the birth of Saint Paul, the great Apostle of the Gentiles, Pope Benedict announced that the Church throughout the world would celebrate a “Year of Saint Paul” beginning on June 28, 2008 and concluding with the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul on June 29, 2009. In announcing this celebration, the Holy Father gave an outline of his intention and plan for the celebration of this year. He said: “This ‘Pauline Year’ will take place in a special way in Rome, where for 2,000 years under the papal altar of the Basilica of Saint Paul’s Outside the Walls, lies the tomb that according to experts and undisputed tradition has conserved the remains of the apostle Paul. Meetings for study will be promoted and there will be special publications on Pauline texts, to promote the immense richness of the teaching contained in them, the true patrimony of humanity redeemed by Christ. Also, in every part of the world, similar initiatives will be organized in dioceses, sanctuaries and places of prayer by religious institutions, institutions of study and assistance, which carry the name of St. Paul or which have been inspired by him and his teaching” (Homily, Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, 28 June 2007). As the beginning of this celebration approaches, I thought it would be helpful if we would reflect on this theme in this week’s column.
Paul’s early life
Saint Paul, known as Saul before his conversion to Christ, is believed to have been born in the Jewish ghetto of the city of Tarsus sometime between the years 7 and 10 A.D. Tarsus was a great commercial city as well as a place of culture and refinement. Many of the images he later uses in his writings, such as references to trade, athletics and war may have come to him from the surroundings he became familiar with in his youth. He pursued the study of the Jewish Law in his own birthplace and then, it is believed, went to Jerusalem to study under the great experts in the Law who taught in the Holy City. From this training, he acquired a great zeal for the preservation of Jewish customs and strict observance of the Law of Moses. Saul learned his father’s trade of making tents and cloaks from the cloth of his native area and he seems to have wished to extol the dignity of manual labor during his ministry, as opposed to the Roman practice of leaving the manual work to slaves. The famous “thorn in the flesh,” which Paul refers to in his Second Letter to the Corinthians, has not been identified definitively by scholars. However, there is a fair amount of agreement that it was some sort of physical affliction, such as serious headaches, epilepsy or malaria. This is a helpful point for us to reflect on because when we encounter the zeal and apostolic activity of Saint Paul, along with his many writings, it must be remembered that he evidently accomplished all this despite some fairly serious physical affliction.
Paul’s conversion
While Saul remained in his native Tarsus, the great events surrounding the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus took place. The disciples, filled with the Holy Sprit after Pentecost, set about preaching the message of Jesus among their own Jewish people. Saul became one of the most active persecutors of those among his own Jewish people who preached or followed the teaching of Jesus. In fact, it was on his way to Damascus to investigate the Christian influence on the Synagogue there, that his famous conversion experience took place. Saint Luke regarded this event to be of such importance that he describes it three times in the Acts of the Apostles; once in his own words (9:1‑19) and twice in the words of Paul himself (22:3‑21 and 26:9‑19). All of the Scriptural evidence, as well as the constant tradition of the Church, points to this conversion account as a true supernatural experience, in which Saul truly encountered Jesus, who appeared to him on the road to Damascus. Paul frequently invoked this meeting as giving him the credentials of an apostle, with the same rights they enjoyed to preach the message of Jesus.
In the context of Saul’s conversion, it is helpful for us to reflect on the fact that, as we celebrate this Pauline year, we are not merely celebrating an historical event of the past. The famous words of Jesus spoken to Saul in answer to his question: “Who are you, sir?” were: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (Acts 26:15). This response of Jesus, imprinted upon Saint Paul, should imprint upon us the reality that the Church is the living body of Christ. Christ unites it with His own person and gives it the characteristic of an ongoing, living reality. Jesus does not tell Saul that he is persecuting the Church but that he is persecuting Him in persecuting His Church. Similarly, in preaching and believing in the Church Jesus founded, Paul came to know it was Jesus in whom he was believing and whom he was preaching.
Themes for our celebration of the Year of Saint Paul
I would like to present some basic themes for your consideration as we prepare to begin the celebration of the Pauline Year. The first would be prayer and reflection.
After Paul’s conversion, he had a period of time to pray and reflect before he actually began his great missionary journeys and preaching of the Gospel. During that time, he was able to reflect upon the ways of Providence and the workings of grace in a soul. These concepts have an eternal importance. A sense of God’s Providence, meaning His care for us and His awareness of our needs, along with His power to address those needs in His own time, is essential to the Christian life. Could the God who created and redeemed us forget us now? Could He, who willed that each of us be born and who saw each of us as He looked out from the Cross, abandon us? These thoughts should give us an abiding faith in the Providence of God, who sees and responds to our needs according to His will. Reflection, prayer and silence are necessary for every Christian. This may mean snatching a moment when traveling to work or taking a brief solitary walk during a lunch break or something more extended, such as the Retreats given at the Malvern Retreat House and other places in our Archdiocese. Ideally, it can be spending some quiet moments with Jesus in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. Only in giving Jesus some of our time, will we be able to have confidence in Providence and the divine inspirations which come to us through the life of grace. All of this prepares us, in the spirit of Saint Paul, to go forth and fulfill our vocation in life with serenity and zeal.
The second theme for our consideration can be the missionary activity of a Christian. In the Liturgy of Baptism, the person to be baptized or the parent or godparent receives a lighted candle. Its light is taken from the Easter candle and the prayer that accompanies the action says, in part: “Receive the light of Christ. This light has been entrusted to you to be kept burning brightly.” This refers to the teaching of Jesus, the light of the world, who says to us: “Your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father” (Matthew 5:16). The second way we might imitate Saint Paul is by being missionaries.
Saint Paul is known as the greatest of all missionaries because by his preaching, his suffering and the holiness of his life, he spent himself for those he was called to serve. Indeed, he writes: “I will most gladly spend and be utterly spent for your sakes” (2 Corinthians 12:15). However, our Baptism reminds us that we are all called to be missionaries. Regardless of our circumstances, every Christian is commissioned at Baptism to go forth and become a light to others by leading a Christian life. Even those who have persecuted the Church in the course of her long history were generally not too concerned if religion was kept “in the sacristy.” It is the bringing of our faith into the marketplace by our words and actions that enable us to fulfill our own mission mandate by bringing Jesus to those we meet. In the course of fulfilling this aspect of the Christian life, we will surely meet with persecution, as Paul did and as Jesus predicted all of His faithful followers would.
Another theme for reflection can be confidence and humility. Saint Paul had a wonderful confidence in the message he preached because it was the message of a person: Jesus Christ. He says, even in the midst of all his sufferings and the persecutions he endured for the faith: “On this account I am suffering these things; but I am not ashamed, for I know him in whom I have believed” (2 Timothy 1:12). His confidence, like ours, should not be in ourselves but in the person we believe in. This makes us humble but confident servants of the Truth. If we find ourselves saying “I” too much in conversation, we may be lacking the humility of a servant of Jesus. If we find ourselves doubting His care for us or the truth of His teaching, we may be lacking confidence.
As we prepare to celebrate the Year of Saint Paul, there is an entire treasure that we can study in his writings and teachings. Perhaps we can begin by listening more attentively when his Letters are read at Mass. You may recognize one of the themes I have presented in this week’s column. It remains for you and me to imitate them.
June 5, 2008