Pope Benedict proclaimed a Jubilee Year of St. Paul to commemorate  the 2,000th anniversary of Paul’s birth, from June 29, 2008 on the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul to June 29, 2009.

St. Paul’s letters are the oldest words in the New Testament and have given sound theological and spiritual foundations to our Christian faith (Gospels were written much later);

We live in a pluralistic world where our children encounter  a vast array of religious and spiritual paths; this is not much different than Paul’s time when many different strands of Judaism and different sects sprung up all over the place.

We owe St. Paul a huge debt: he was God’s missionary to the Gentiles, to those Christians who were not Jewish – that’s us! Thanks to St. Paul Christianity spread far and wide, all the way to Humboldt, SK.

St. Paul is the prototype missionary. He surrendered his total self to the mission of Jesus and would speak about that to anyone who would listen. The Parish Mission which we experienced last month, and for some of us over the past year, challenged us to become better missionaries in our own community.  We don’t want to drop that challenge, but want to help one another grow in this commitment. Studying St. Paul will equip us with knowledge and fill us with zeal to be Christ’s instruments in our world.

St. Paul never met the historical Jesus in the flesh  even though they lived in the same time period. On the road to Damascus Paul encountered the RISEN CHRIST. That encounter gave Paul all he needed to know about the salvation which God had won for us in Christ. This encounter with the risen Jesus filled Paul with zeal and passion to spread that Good News everywhere. We We too have never met the historical Jesus in the flesh and we too encounter the RISEN CHRIST in faith – in and through the community of believers, in the sacraments primarily the Eucharist, within the depth of our own hearts in the features of our life experiences, and in the poor and vulnerable in our midst. We have in common with St. Paul our commitment in faith to the risen Christ. No better time than this Easter Season to walk with Paul.

Finally, and maybe most importantly, the flame of zeal and passion in the hearts of believer seems to be at an all-time low these days. Our children turn their backs on the ancient traditions and rituals, and we feel helpless despite our best efforts to transmit to them a living faith in Jesus. We yearn for the fire of faith to be re-kindled even in our own hearts. Walking with St. Paul in this Easter Season, with a man so on fire with the risen Jesus, challenges and inspires us, affirms and guides us, nourishes and sustains our hungry spirits. Walking with St. Paul equips us in a total way for mission.                 

Ponder Paul’s own words:

What can we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? … Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine or nakedness, or peril, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Romans 8:31-32, 35, 37)