On Thursday, October 9th I visited the 7th grade classes in our day school. The topic of our discussion was St. Paul.
St. Paul I believe is the greatest theologian and missionary that the Church will ever produce. What he did for Christianity is
1.) He taught us of God’s love and invited each of us to be missionaries proclaiming God’s love to others through our words and deeds.
2.) He taught us that the death and resurrection of Jesus, proof of God’s love for us, is the foundation of our faith.
3.) He taught us the church is the community of Jesus. The community of faith possesses the gift of faith and passes it on to the next generation. The church community is structured to ensure the authenticity of the Gospel message and keep all members on the same task.
In the Structure of the Church there are: Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, among other servant leaders.
The message of faith which the present-day Church proclaims is the same as that of the early Church. We are connected to the early church through the saints, whose relics we venerate as a means to ask their prayerful help from God. There are three classes of relics:
1.) First Class (part of the Saint’s body
2.) Second Class (a personal item of the saint-a book, clothing, etc.)
3.) Third Class (cloth touched to the body of the saint)
The idea of relics comes from the story of St. Peter in the Acts of the Apostles where many touched cloth to St. Peter and laid these on the sick and the sick persons were healed.
Biography of St. Paul the Apostle
Born in Tarsus (present-day Turkey), Saul was a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin. He was a Pharisee who persecuted the Christians with great hatred – he even led the crowd in stoning St. Stephen, the first martyr.
After the martyrdom of St. Stephen, Saul appealed to the high priest and Sanhedrin for his consent to arrest all Jewish Christians in Damascus and bring them to Jerusalem. He was granted permission and set out to continue destroying Christianity.
However, Saul was nearly to Damascus when he was surrounded by a great light and fell to the ground. He heard a voice saying: “Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me?” Saul asked, “Who art thou, Lord?” The voice replied, “Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecute.”
There was a Christian of great distinction in Damascus, much respected by the Jews for his irreproachable life and great virtue named was Ananias. Christ appeared to this holy disciple, and commanded him to go to Saul, who was then in the house of Judas in prayer. Ananias trembled at the name of Saul, being no stranger to the mischief he had done in Jerusalem, or the reason he traveled to Damascus. But Christ overruled his fears, and charged him a second time to go to him, saying: Go, for he is a vessel of election to carry my name before Gentiles and kings, and the children of Israel; and I will show him how much he has to suffer for my name.
This experience caused his conversion to Christianity. He was baptized, changed his name to Paul, traveled, and went to see Peter and the other Apostles in Jerusalem. He was the Lord’s chosen instrument to take the faith to the Gentiles.
Though he was severely beaten, arrested, exhausted, and hungry, Paul spent the rest of his life tirelessly preaching the Gospel all over the Mediterranean world. He was imprisoned and taken to Rome where he was beheaded around the year 67 during Nero’s persecution of Christians.
He is buried in the basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, in Rome.
St. Paul is the author of 14 letters in the New Testament: Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, and Hebrews.
He is also the patron saint of evangelists, authors, lay people and tent-makers.
READ: Acts 14:1-20
Risking Their Necks
In Acts, chapter 14, we learn that Paul and Barnabas were run out of two towns-Iconium and Lystra-and Paul was almost killed! They were just being faithful to the work God sent them to do. The truth is, sometimes being faithful is risky. For example, when we forgive our enemies, we risk having our friends turn on us. When we give our money to poor people instead of spending it on trendy clothes, we risk being judged by what we wear. When we participate in a service project in our free time, we risk being unpopular because we're doing something out of the ordinary.
Don't be afraid of rejection! Jesus warned us we would be per¬secuted for being faithful. Even though Paul and Barnabas were run out of town, they were suc¬cessful in helping some people believe in Jesus. Hang in there and believe that what you gain for living faithfully is far greater than anything you have to lose.
