"The
Conversion of Saint Paul"
Part 1
Fairfield County Catholic, September
6, 2008
The Year of Saint Paul, recently inaugurated
by Pope Benedict XVI, is well under way but I decided to wait
until September to take the wraps off a little project I had been
thinking of for awhile. And it's this: to use my biweekly column
in the Fairfield County Catholic to explore twenty themes
from the life and writings of Saint Paul. My hope is to relate
these themes to events in our parishes and throughout the diocese
during the pastoral year that lies ahead. Just one helpful hint:
as you read these columns, it might be helpful to have a New Testament
at hand. What now follows is a first installment.
I thought it best to "start at the very beginning,"
as Rodgers and Hammerstein advised, and that means the story of
Saint Paul's conversion to Christ and the reception of his vocation.
And let me introduce this episode in his life with a story that
hails from a pre-ecumenical age. It seems that, at the turn of
the last century, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Cleveland wanted
to buy an Episcopal Church named Saint Paul's on Euclid Avenue.
However, the vestrymen of Saint Paul's wouldn't hear of it, for
in those days, the thought of a Roman Catholic Church on one of
Cleveland's most prestigious streets was still unthinkable. However,
the Bishop of Cleveland was resourceful and so found a third-party
buyer who obtained the property and promptly handed it over to
the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland. After the church was
refurbished, the Bishop of Cleveland went to dedicate his new
acquisition, which he proudly renamed, "The Conversion of Saint
Paul."
Not long after that happened, the first Church
Unity Octave was observed in 1908. This is an eight-day period
of prayer for unity among Christians that concludes on January
25, the feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, a feast that was
observed not only by Roman Catholics but also by Anglicans, Eastern
and Oriental Orthodox, and Lutherans. The Church Unity Octave
was started by the pioneering Father Paul Wattson, who also founded
the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement (Graymoor, NY) and it continues
to be celebrated by many Christian denominations. This celebration
helps us see that the conversion of Saint Paul was decisive not
only for Saint Paul's personal life but also for all Christ's
followers. Paul's conversion turned him away from persecuting
the followers of Christ and oriented him toward preaching the
Gospel to the Gentiles. It prompted him to seek unity within the
Body of Christ.
As we study Saint Paul's conversion, I'd ask you
to reflect on the need for unity among believers in bearing witness
to Christ, and on our modern-day mission to proclaim the Gospel
through parish ministries and by our life and example.
Saint Paul's conversion is described most fully
in the Acts of the Apostles authored by Saint Luke (see Acts 9:4-5;
22:7-8; 26:14- 15). Saint Paul himself also refers or alludes
to it several times in his writings (see, for example, Galatians
1:13-17; I Corinthians 9:16-17; II Corinthians 4:6; Philippians
3:12-14). Clearly, what happened to Saint Paul on the road to
Damascus was pivotal in his life.
But let's back up a little. One of the reasons this
event was pivotal was the zeal with which he had been persecuting
the first followers of Christ. Born Saul of Tarsus (located in
modern-day Turkey), the future Apostle to the Gentiles, though
a Roman citizen, was steeped in the Law and the Prophets. In Acts
22:3, Paul tells us that he "studied at the feet of Gamaliel,"
one of the most famous teachers of the Mosaic Law in all of Israel
(we also meet him as a canny judge at Acts 5:34). A Pharisee by
training, Saul waded into the division that existed in the Judaism
of his day between those who longed for the coming of the Messiah
and those who stressed strict observance of the Law. Prior to
his conversion, Saul had opted for the latter. And in his zeal
for the law, we find him present at the martyrdom of Saint Stephen.
We are told that the witnesses of Stephen's execution "laid down
their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul" (Acts 7:58).
The author of the Acts of the Apostles goes on to
say that ". . . Saul was consenting to his (Stephen's) execution"
(Acts 8:1). What's more, he actively engaged in persecuting the
followers of Christ: "Saul, meanwhile, was trying to destroy the
Church, entering house after house and dragging out men and women;
he handed them over for imprisonment" (Acts 8:3). Indeed, at the
time of his conversion, Saul was on his way to Damascus carrying
documents that authorized him to bring back Christians to Jerusalem
to stand trial before religious authorities (see Acts 9:1-2).
While on this mission, Saul encountered Christ in
the form of a blinding light. Let's rejoin Saint Luke in the Book
of Acts, 9:3: "On his journey, as he was nearing Damascus, a light
from the sky suddenly flashed around him." Later, in his Second
Letter to the Corinthians, Paul will speak of "the glory of God
shining on the face of Christ" (II Cor. 4:6). It was the glory
of the Risen Christ that Saul met on that day. This was not what
he expected or something he had merited. Rather, as Paul will
later write to the Philippians, he was "taken possession of "
by Christ on that day and, so to speak, was made to run for Christ
in the marathon of salvation. But first Saul had to face and repent
of the relentless persecution he had been pursuing. So the voice
from the heavens spoke: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
It is hard for you to kick against the goads" (Acts 9:4-5; Acts
26:14-15). Saul responds by asking: "Who are you, Lord?" The voice
answered: "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting." The light and
the voice was that of Christ, who made it clear that in persecuting
the followers of Christ Saul was persecuting Christ himself. In
this instant, Saul knew it was the Lord and that He had risen
from the dead.
As for "kicking against the goads" - what could
that mean? Scholars like Luke Timothy Johnson tell us that a "goad"
is the rough equivalent of a "cattle prod" and that the author
of the Acts of the Apostles was probably quoting a Greek proverb
as a way of saying that it was futile for Saul to continue persecuting
Christ's followers (See Luke Timothy Johnson, The Acts of the
Apostles, Sacra Pagina, Vol. 5, Collegeville, Minn.: The Liturgical
Press [1992], p. 435). Clearly, before Saul could receive his
vocation as the "Apostle of the Gentiles" he had first to renounce
his persecution of the Christians and also come to terms not with
the authentic faith and hope of Israel but rather with his misguided
legalism. Turing away from those things, he embraced the splendor
of the Risen Christ. This, we might say, is the "content" of his
conversion.
But his conversion was quickly followed by his
calling from Christ. Let's tune in again to the Acts of the Apostles
at 26:16-18 where we read what the Lord said to Saul immediately
after his blinding vision and dialogue: "Get up now, stand on
your feet. I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint
you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen [of me]
and what you will be shown. I shall deliver you from this people
and from the Gentiles to whom I send you, to open their eyes that
they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan
to God, so that they may obtain forgiveness of sins and an inheritance
among those who have been consecrated by faith in me."
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul also describes
his calling. He recounts how he persecuted "the Church of God"
and was among the most zealous of the zealots. Then he adds: "But
when [God], who had called me from my mother's womb had set me
apart and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his
Son to me so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles, I did
not immediately consult flesh and blood nor did I go up to Jerusalem
to those who were apostles before me; rather I went into Arabia
and then returned to Damascus" (Gal. 1:15-17).
Like an Old Testament prophet, Saul, soon to become
Paul, received from God a supernatural vision, his calling, the
content of his preaching, and its intended audience. His encounter
with the Risen Lord, later authenticated by the Apostles, would
qualify him to be numbered among the Apostles and even to be designated
in Tradition as "the Apostle."
Like Jeremiah, the prophet who was called before
God formed him in his mother's womb (Jeremiah 1:5), so, too, Paul
was called even before his birth and "set apart" to bring the
Good News of God's Son to the Gentiles, that is to say, all those
nations distinct from the Jewish nation.
The Acts of the Apostles goes on to say that ".
. . in the synagogues immediately [Paul] proclaimed Jesus, saying,
'He is the Son of God'" (Acts 9:20; Catechism of the Catholic
Church, no. 442). As the direct result of his conversion and
his being sent by Christ, Paul truly became "the teacher of the
world" (see Preface for the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul).
Now let's return to the two points I invited you
to keep in mind at the beginning of this column. First is the
need for unity in proclaiming and teaching the faith of the Church.
Many times in his writings, we find Saint Paul railing against
those who bring division to the Body of Christ. For example, he
lashes out against the Corinthians for their factions (see I Cor.
1:10-17). Having persecuted the Church, Paul finds it enormously
painful to see members of the Church persecuting one another.
He realized, as we must realize, that nothing is more harmful
to the work of spreading the Gospel.
What would Paul make of the divisions that exist
within the Church today? How would he react to our penchant to
substitute ideology of the left or the right in place of the Gospel?
Would he not chide us more strongly than the frisky Corinthians?
Would he not remind us that we can do the Church
more damage from within than the world and all its fury inflicts
on the Church from without?
A second point may be helpful in these days when
schools are opening and parish religious education classes are
resuming. Once again, we will hear justified laments about parents
who bring their children to class but who do not practice the
faith or reinforce what our parishes and schools are trying to
teach them. We'll hear clergy rightly mourn for those absent from
Sunday Mass. And there is always anxiety at the time of year in
making sure that there enough volunteer religious education teachers.
Saint Paul's conversion experience is helpful on all these counts.
Beginning with the last point, Paul became a great
and fearless teacher of the faith once he was convinced that the
Lord Jesus was truly alive and had conquered sin and death. This
is the conviction that has motivated every missionary worthy of
the name for almost 2,000 years.
If it is true, if Christ lives in the Church through
her teaching and sacramental life, then we, like Paul, feel almost
a compulsion to share this Good News with others (so please volunteer!).
Saint Paul also helps us look at our mission differently. Not
only are we called to instruct, we are also called to convince,
to surprise with joy, to open the hearts of those around us to
the truth and beauty of the Gospel.
As the General Catechetical Directory puts
it, "The Church exists to evangelize. Evangelization expresses
the Church's identity and completes the mission entrusted to her
by her founder Jesus Christ." In other words, we have to pray
and pray hard to be the instruments of Christ's graces moving
those around us to a conversion experience not unlike Saint Paul's,
an experience of the light, truth, goodness, and beauty of the
Risen Lord.
Once the light of the Risen Lord's love has dawned
upon us, and those we're called to serve, we'll hunger and thirst
for the "holiness of truth" (Ephesians 4:24) and for sound, complete,
and systematic instruction in the truths of the faith. This is
the hunger that will ultimately be satisfied when we, too, see
the Risen Lord face-to-face.
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"The
Apostle and the Apostles"
Part 2
Fairfield County Catholic, September
20, 2008
In a few weeks, bishops will gather from all over
the world for the Twelfth General Assembly, more commonly known
as the World Synod of Bishops. It will be devoted to the
Word of God in the life and mission of the Church. The Church
in the United States will be ably represented by four delegates
elected by the U.S. bishops: Cardinal Francis George of Chicago,
president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; Bishop Gerald
Kicanas, Bishop of Tucson and USCCB vice president; Cardinal Daniel
DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston; and Archbishop Donald
Wuerl of Washington. Others of local interest who will attend
the Synod as auditors include Supreme Knight Carl A. Anderson
of the Knights of Columbus and Mother Clare Millea, Superior General
of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The purpose of this Synod is pastoral and missionary.
Bishops, together with theologians and auditors, will study the
Word of God in the life of the Church in view of the urgent need
to bring the truth of the Gospel to their contemporaries throughout
the world. Indeed, Pope Benedict XVI convened this Synod and chose
this theme because he sensed among God's people a hunger for the
living Word of God - that Word which engenders firm faith, that
Word which in some way is addressed to every person without exception.
And it was not accidental that the Synod and the Year of Saint
Paul coincide. After all, Paul's mission was to bring the Gospel
of the Son of God to the nations. In light of Saint Paul's life
and mission, we can understand better the significance of the
Synod for the whole Church as well as our responsibility to study
and spread the living Word of God in communion with the Holy Father
and the Church's bishops.
My initial column in this 20-part series dealt with
the conversion of Saint Paul on the road to Damascus. Now we turn
our attention to another episode in Saint Paul's life - the beginning
of his ministry of bringing the Gospel to the Gentiles. Our focus
is on Paul's entering into communion with Peter and the other
Apostles who confirmed his mission to spread the Word of Christ
to the nations.
We can see a parallel between Paul's consultation
with the Apostles at Jerusalem and the Synod for which bishops
will travel to Rome to study God's Word and then go forth to proclaim
the Gospel with fresh insight and urgency. Saint Paul's consultation
with the Apostles at Jerusalem also helps us understand more clearly
how we are to carry out our particular service to the Word of
God in communion with the Holy Father and the bishops in union
with him.
So back to the story of Saint Paul! After his vision
of the Risen Lord, Paul - always a strong and forceful personality
- immediately began to proclaim to the Jews in Damascus that Jesus
was the Son of God (Acts 9:20-22). Next, as Paul tells us in Galatians
1:17, he went to northern Arabia to preach the Good News not only
to Jews who were living there but also to a group of Semitic people
known as Nabateans. As would happen more than once in his life,
Paul's preaching was met with resistance. In this case, it was
from the Nabatean King, Aretas IV. Although Paul returned to Damascus,
Aretas was still after him with the result that Paul had to make
his escape (see Acts 9:23 and Galatians 1:18). Paul then went
to Jerusalem where he met Peter and James.
We are told that Paul conferred with Peter for 15
days. One could only wish to have eavesdropped on that conversation!
Next we find Paul back at Tarsus where he was recruited
by Barnabas, the trusted envoy of the Apostles at Jerusalem. Even
so, Paul did not immediately assume the mantle of Apostle, nor
was he ever a "lone ranger." Instead, he entered deeply into communion
with the Church at Antioch (ca. 44 - 45 A.D.). Acts 13:1-2 tells
us that both Paul (still known as Saul) and Barnabas were part
of this vibrant community of faith where the followers of Christ
were called "Christians" for the first time.
For the record, seven verses later (Acts 13:9),
Luke will refer to "Saul who is also called Paul." More importantly,
at this juncture Paul already is recognized as a "prophet" and
"teacher" of the faith.
As teachers of the faith, Paul and Barnabas were
pathfinders. They not only taught in Jewish synagogues but also
reached out to the Gentiles. In Acts 13:16, we find Paul speaking
to both groups at once: "Men of Israel and you who fear God .
. ." Paul and Barnabas soon realized that addressing both groups
together would not always work. Nonetheless, Paul stood his ground,
telling his Jewish audience that God's Word was first addressed
to them but now also to the Gentiles.
Quoting Isaiah the prophet (Isaiah 49:6), Paul told
them he and Barnabas were sent "to be a light for the Gentiles"
and "to bring salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth" (Acts
13:47). This made the Gentiles happy but tended to anger some
of his Jewish adherents.
Later on, in his letter to the Ephesians, Paul will
speak of how Christ transcends such divisions and brings those
in enmity into one: "For [Christ] is our peace, who has made us
both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility by
abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances
that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two
. . . (Ephesians 4:14- 15). Here the reference of the two made
one is to Jews and Gentiles. This is a theme to which we will
return in the course of this series.
For now it is important for us to observe that the
evangelizing activity of Paul and Barnabas highlighted both the
continuity and also the newness of the way of Jesus Christ with
respect to the faith of Israel. We should also note that at Antioch
Paul came to understand that he was called to bring the Gospel
to the Gentiles.
In his vision at Damascus, the Risen Lord instructed
Paul "to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and
the sons of Israel" (Acts 9:15). Nonetheless, Paul did not regard
his mission as self-validating but rather returned to Jerusalem
(Galatians 2:1-2; Acts 14:27) to confer with Peter, James, and
John.
From a purely human point of view, the outcome of
that meeting was not a foregone conclusion.
Paul arrived with Barnabas as well as Titus and
laid out for the Apostles his mission to the Gentiles. Two accounts
of that encounter survive, that of Paul himself (Galatians 2:1-10)
and that of Luke (Acts 15:1-35). The perspectives of the two versions
vary, but the conclusion is substantially the same. With some
regard for the sensibilities of Jewish converts (hence the prescription
about not eating meat sacrificed to idols and the blood of strangled
animals, Acts 15:29), the mission of Paul to the Gentiles was
recognized as authentic, a decisive and providential moment for
the Church's future.
Paul, because of his direct encounter with the Risen
Lord, was acknowledged as an Apostle; that is, "one sent" to bring
the Gospel to the nations.
The meeting at Jerusalem served not only to confirm
the scope of Paul's mission but also the content of his preaching;
that is to say, his account of God's mysterious plan for the salvation
of the world (see Ephesians 1:9-10; 3:7-10).
All of this points to the relationship between
communion and mission. Saint Paul will later on speak of this
relationship in various ways, especially his description of the
Church as "the Body of Christ" (see, for example, Ephesians 1,
22; 1 Corinthians 12:12-31).
Preaching of the Gospel is never a private affair
and never succeeds as such. For the Gospel of Christ is not a
mere philosophy of life, but rather "the restoration of all things"
(Ephesians 1:10) including the destiny of each individual. Furthermore,
the unity of believers, as noted in the last column, lends credibility
to the message.
This also helps us see why the current Synod is
so important for the whole Church. It is not just a symposium
but an expression of the communion of the entire Church forged
by the Holy Spirit. After the Synod the Holy Father will issue
a post-synodal exhortation on the Word of God. Based on the deliberations
of the Synod it will aim to deepen our appreciation of how God
revealed Himself in Scripture and Tradition and it will encourage
each diocese to evangelize more effectively and to catechize more
thoroughly.
The Synod also sheds light on Catechetical Sunday
this weekend, September 20-21, which also has the "Word of
God" as its theme. I am deeply grateful to the directors of religious
education and to catechists, as well as to our Catholic school
principals and teachers for their service to the Word of God.
I feel very close to you, not only because I have had many opportunities
to be with you, but also because each of us, in accord with our
respective vocations, are joined in the service of "one Lord,
one faith, one baptism" (Ephesians 4:5).
Please also allow me to encourage those reading
this column to consider becoming catechists, working in union
with me and with the priests of the diocese to share the Word
of God with people of all ages but most especially the young.
May we take our inspiration from Saint Paul in
fearlessly and joyfully proclaiming the mystery of Christ!
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"Paul
the Missionary"
Part 3
Fairfield County Catholic, October
4, 2008
In just a few weeks, the first-ever Missionary
Congress of the Diocese of Bridgeport will take place
(Saturday, October 25, 8:15 a.m. to noon, Saint Thomas Aquinas
Parish, Fairfield). A word of explanation is in order.
Over the years, the Diocese of Bridgeport has founded
and maintained missions in other countries. An interesting read
is Bridgeport's Peru by Msgr. Stephen DiGiovanni which
tells how Bishop Walter Curtis founded a diocesan mission at Chiclayo,
Peru, where Father Francis Posluszny continues to serve. Not to
be forgotten is the ongoing work of Msgr. Joseph Potter in Juazeiro,
Brazil. Msgr. Potter is listed as "retired" but those of us who
are privileged to know him understand that he is anything but
"retired." Over the years, more than a few priests from the diocese
served in these missions. Many (like Msgr. John Tomis) have gone
"home" to the Lord, but some are still with us, including Father
Fred Saviano, who currently directs our diocesan Office for the
Propagation of the Faith, Msgr. Stanley Rousseau, and Father Paul
Merry. The missionary spirit is not only part of our history but,
indeed, remains embedded in our "DNA" as a diocese.
At the same time, we also recognize that the whole
Church, including the Church in Fairfield County, is mission territory.
The Second Vatican Council teaches that ". . . the pilgrim Church
is missionary by her very nature, since it is from the mission
of the Son and the mission of the Holy Spirit that she draws her
origin, in accordance with the decree of God the Father" (II Vatican
Council, Ad Gentes Divinitus, no. 2). With that in mind,
three years ago the diocese launched its Pastoral Plan of Evangelization
which goes by the name, "Following in the Footsteps of Christ."
Its purpose it to inspire those already following Christ to follow
him more closely as members of the Church; it is also to inspire
those who have lapsed in the practice of their faith or those
who have no faith at all to accept Christ's invitation, "Come,
follow me." The Plan is also an opportunity to proclaim and teach
the faith of the Church afresh so that all of us may come to understand
more profoundly ". . . with all the saints what is the breadth
and length and height and depth, and to know the love of God which
surpasses knowledge, that [we] may be filled with all the fullness
of God" (Ephesians 3:18). And finally, the Plan aims to encourage
and strengthen all of us to share the faith of the Church with
those who are around us so that we might share more completely
in the Church's mission of bringing to Christ those whose lives
we influence.
The Missionary Congress is a four-hour event designed
to inspire, instruct, and empower all of us as missionaries for
Christ right here in Fairfield County. It is time well spent.
Every one one of us, myself included, needs to be reenergized
to do the Lord's work. At the same time, all of us know people
who are ensnared by the secular culture in which we live. This
culture leaves very little room for God and the things of God.
We also know people who have left the Church because they've become
convinced that they can be "spiritual" without any firm beliefs
or any set pattern of worship. We also know people who have left
the Church because of hurt, scandal, misunderstanding, or discomfort
with what the Church believes and teaches. And many are waiting
for an invitation for reconciliation and renewed faith.
The harvest is rich and we are the laborers - bishop,
priests, deacons, religious, and laity. I sincerely hope you will
accept my invitation to take part in this Missionary Congress
- four hours well spent on one's own life of faith and on advancing
Christ's mission in Fairfield County through the parishes, schools,
and programs of the Diocese of Bridgeport.
 If
we want to learn how to be missionaries, we do well to turn to
Saint Paul, whom the Church acclaims as "the teacher of the nations."
Artists like El Greco (at right) often depict Saint Paul holding
an open book of Scripture and a sword. This portrayal speaks to
us of Saint Paul's missionary zeal in establishing churches as
well as his bold proclamation of God's Word to the nations. The
sword is an allusion to Ephesians 6:17 where Saint Paul exhorts
his readers to " . . . take the helmet of salvation and the sword
of the Spirit which is the word of God."
The last column dealt with Saint Paul's status as
an Apostle in communion with the other Apostles. Saint Paul was
recognized as an Apostle because of his direct encounter with
the Risen Lord on the way to Damascus and because the content
of his preaching and his outreach to the Gentiles were authenticated
by Peter, James, and the other Apostles in the Council of Jerusalem.
In time Saint Paul became known as "The Apostle," not because
he was superior to the other Apostles but because of the unique
way he fulfilled the office of Apostle. The word "Apostle" itself
comes from the Greek apostolos, meaning one who is sent
off. No Apostle, I daresay, traveled more widely than Saint Paul.
His mission took him, at least metaphorically, "to the ends of
the earth." Far from waiting for his congregation to come to him,
Saint Paul, in the power of the Holy Spirit, was sent to them.
And when he could not visit them personally, he wrote to them.
Saint Paul is by far the most prolific writer in the Bible.
An old theological adage teaches that "grace builds
on nature." That certainly seems to be the case with Saint Paul.
From what we can gather from his life, even before his conversion
on the road to Damascus, Paul moved around a lot. In the days
when he persecuted the Church, the future Apostle and martyr seems
to crop up everywhere. Immediately, the picture of a strong and
intense personality emerges, a picture that deepens and becomes
more beautiful as we read on in the Acts of the Apostles and meet
Saint Paul in his Epistles.
But moving around a lot does not necessarily make
for a great missionary. What we have to appreciate is how Saint
Paul's encounter with the Risen Lord changed his life forever.
He would spend the rest of his life mediating on the mystery of
Christ, especially during a "hidden period" in his life when he
withdrew to parts of Syria and Cilicia, the province from which
he came. Afterwards, however, he proclaimed "Christ crucified"
far and wide without counting the cost.
The "far and wide" aspect of Saint Paul's life is
usually grouped into three missionary journeys, at least the three
that we know of.
His first missionary journey took place before Saint
Paul went to Jerusalem (an encounter described in my previous
column). Barnabas and Paul were among the leaders of the Church
at Antioch. We read in Acts 13:2 how, as the result of fasting
prayer, it was determined that Barnabas and Paul should be sent
forth, as we might say today, to spread the Gospel. We are told
that the prophets and teachers of that community "laid hands"
on Barnabas and Paul to set them apart for this special work and
then sent them off.
At this stage, it seems, Barnabas was the "senior
partner," and it should be noted that they were accompanied by
"John Mark," known to us as Saint Mark the Evangelist. Sometime
during this journey, Paul likely emerged as the leader because
the Acts of the Apostles (13:13) goes on to refer to the missionaries
as "Paul and his companions."
Departing Antioch, they went first to the island
of Cyprus, then on to a number of cities in Asia Minor, at that
time a prosperous and cultured part of the Roman Empire. It corresponds
to modern-day Turkey, a peninsula that lies between the Black
Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. As noted in previous columns, Saint
Paul and his companions usually began by preaching in Jewish synagogues
and then to the Gentiles. Having been trained as a Pharisee, Paul
assumed that the methods of argumentation which he learned as
a Pharisee would serve him well. He also banked not only on the
Jewish belief in one God (monotheism) but also on the cultural
sophistication of the Gentile population. His confidence in both
was not always rewarded. His synagogue preaching, at first, did
not seem effective, though later we read how the numbers of converts
increased daily. Jewish and Gentile converts, to say the least,
found it hard to get along. (see, for example, Acts, 14:1-7).
At Lystra and Derbe, Barnabas and Paul, to their horror, were
mistaken for gods (Acts 14: 8-18). They also made enemies along
the way. Opponents from Pisidian Antioch and Iconium (places in
Asia Minor where they had visited), turned up in Lystra where
they stoned Paul, almost snuffing out his life. And just to think,
all this happened before Paul went to Jerusalem to make his case
for his mission to the Gentiles.
Opposition and suffering are not deterrents for
the true missionary but, rather, a source of joy. On this trip
Paul and his companions came to realize that they were called
to fulfill the Lord's words: "I have set you to be a light for
the Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the uttermost parts
of the earth" (Acts 13:47; see Isaiah 49:6).
The second missionary journey is recounted in Acts
15:40 through 18:11 and is thought to have taken place around
the years 50-58 A.D. In his second journey, Paul came back to
places in Asia Minor that he had previously visited and where
he had preached the Gospel. Thus far, Saint Paul had already covered
a lot of territory. In Romans 15:19, Paul comments that he had
preached the Gospel "from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum"
(a Roman province that is roughly in the modern-day Balkans on
the east coast of the Adriatic Sea). Like a good pastor, he wanted
to see how these new Christian communities were doing. This he
would do again and again. Here, he teaches us that it is not enough
to preach the Gospel and move on. Though it is "God who gives
the growth" (1 Corinthians 3:6-7), the Church, once planted, needs
to be carefully tended. Nor should we be under the illusion that
Paul's ministry was without its tensions.
Along the way Paul lost Barnabas and John Mark as
coworkers but gained Silas (Acts 15:36-39), though he later reconciled
with Barnabas and John Mark. Paul, Barnabas, and Peter had also
gotten into a dispute over the observance of the Jewish law, a
no-win issue in fending between Jewish and Gentile converts.
This, too, is a great lesson for modern-day missionaries
at home and abroad. We shouldn't imagine that we can wait for
all tensions and problems in the life of the Church to be resolved
before we start preaching the Gospel. The Church will always be
subject to internal strife, though we should limit this as much
as possible. After all, her core mission is to extend Christ's
saving love to sinners.
The third missionary journey can be found at Acts
18:23 through 21:15. In the previous chapter (Acts 17:16-32) we
read of Saint Paul at Athens where he visited the Areopagus. It
was, in a sense, a maiden voyage on the sea of apologetics.
At the center of Greek philosophy, Saint Paul tried
to convince the Athenians that it was reasonable to embrace the
God of Jesus Christ. Pointing to the altar in Athens to the "unknown
god," Paul tried to explain this as an indicator of the true God
whom they were seeking. But when Paul spoke of the resurrection
of Christ from the dead, the Athenians mocked Paul and said, "We'll
hear more about that later!" Saint Paul's approach did not work
and he resolved, as he tells us, only to preach Christ crucified,
"a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles" (1 Corinthians
1:23).
This does not mean that Saint Paul turned "anti-intellectual,"
for his letters abound with cultural references, brilliant literary
constructions, and argumentation for the faith. Rather, it means
he understood well that philosophy alone cannot grasp the dimensions
of God's love revealed in Christ.
At any rate, in his third journey, Saint Paul then
proceeded northward to Galatia and Phrygia and then, for the first
time, to Europe. Here, he visited Greek cities that are household
names to any reader of the New Testament: Philippi, Thessalonica,
Athens, and Corinth. Eventually, Saint Paul preached in Ephesus,
at the time the most important Roman city in Asia Minor. It appears
that Saint Paul remained at Ephesus for a long time before finally
returning to Jerusalem. Throughout his journeys, and especially
toward the end of his ministry, Saint Paul suffered greatly for
the Gospel. He describes his sufferings, for example, in 2 Corinthians
11:24-27.
In the end, Paul was arrested in Jerusalem, brought
before a Jewish court, then two Roman governors. Finally, he was
taken to Rome where he endured two years of house arrest.
Nonetheless, Paul's voice could not be stilled.
He felt a deep compulsion to preach the Gospel (see 1 Corinthians
6:19). His greatest witness to the Risen Lord was his martyrdom
at the hands of Nero about the year 64 A.D. His death caused the
Church to grow in all the places he visited.
What a shining light Saint Paul is for us! Like
us, he brought the Gospel into environments that were often hostile.
Not every attempt at preaching the Gospel was met with success,
and there were great tensions in his ministry.
Nonetheless, the Gospel shone through Saint Paul
and his companions and received in his preaching and writing a
superbly beautiful and profound articulation. As we gather for
the Missionary Congress of the Diocese of Bridgeport, we ask Saint
Paul to inspire us with zeal for the Gospel that we might bring
the truth and love of Christ throughout every corner of Fairfield
County and beyond.
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"The
Forest and the Trees"
Part 4
Fairfield County Catholic, October
18, 2008
My previous column mentioned in passing that Saint
Paul is the most prolific writer in the New Testament. In this
column and the next, I'd like to dwell on that point.
To begin with, about 25 percent of the New Testament
is Pauline. Regular Mass goers know this. Often the second Scripture
reading on Sunday is taken from Saint Paul. In the daily cycle
of readings, the Church at times invites us to read continuously,
over a period of days, one or another of Saint Paul's letters
(currently we're reading Galatians). It's wonderful that the Church's
liturgy gives us so much contact with Saint Paul's writings. But
usually we are given only a relatively few verses at a time. And
sometimes when we hear that the reading is from "Paul's letter
to the Romans" or "Paul's letter to the Ephesians," we may not
have a ready frame of reference. In other words, we may be seeing
trees but not the forest.
The modest scope of this effort is simply to offer
you a Fodor's guide to the writings of Saint Paul. With the help
of a few reliable authors, I'll list the writings of Saint Paul,
mention when they were written and what the main themes are, and
try to co-relate what was going on in Saint Paul's life when those
epistles were written. Of course, one could fill an encyclopedia
on this subject; this will be just a little sketch and even this
will take two columns.
Yet if the scope of these articles is modest, the
goal is large. Like the writers of guidebooks who hope that their
readers will actually visit the countries and cities they are
describing, I'm hoping you'll go to the Bible and read the letters
of Saint Paul for yourself. At the very least, I hope these columns
will cause a few bells to go off in your head the next time you
hear that the second reading is from Galatians or Colossians or
First Corinthians.
There are 14 letters which were written by Saint
Paul or are historically attributed to him (counting the Letter
to the Hebrews). Paul or his co-workers wrote them in Greek approximately
between the years 51 through 70 A.D. and addressed them to local
churches he had established in the course of his missionary visits.
So in addition to pastoral visits and to sending his co-workers
to these churches, Paul also wrote letters to convey important
teaching and to address practical problems and practices in those
congregations - and many of these sound familiar to our ears twenty
centuries later.
Most scholars believe that Thessalonians 1 and
2 are the oldest of Saint Paul's letters. They were likely
written in Corinth in the year 51, just after the completion of
Saint Paul's second missionary journey in the year 50, a journey
that brought him to Thessalonica (see Acts 17:1 ff). Although
Paul planted a vibrant church at Thessalonica, he suffered persecution
there from both Jews and Gentiles. Together with his companions
Silas (Silvanus) and Timothy, he went to Beroea (in Macedonia,
see Acts 17:10, 13) and then to Athens (see Acts 17:16 ff). Paul
sent Timothy back to Thessalonica to continue the work of establishing
that newfound Christian community (1 Thes. 3:1-5).
Afterwards, when Timothy, together with Silas, were
reunited with Paul in Corinth in the summer of 51 (Acts 18:1-18),
Timothy told Paul about conditions (both good news and bad) in
the church at Thessalonica.
In response, Paul wrote his first letter to the
Thessalonians (1 Thes. 3: 6-8).In that letter, Paul expresses
deep thanks for the faith of this new community, his earnest prayer
for them, and his desire to return to them (1 Thes. 2-3). Paul
also encourages them to lead lives pleasing to God, especially
to practice charity (1 Thes. 1-12). While urging them to remain
vigilant for the Lord's return, Paul instructs the Thessalonians
that those already dead will be awakened when Christ comes in
glory (1 Thes. 4:13-18; 5:1- 11). He closes by urging the community
(1 Thes. 5: 12-24) to work quietly and to encourage one another,
to rejoice and pray constantly, and to "test everything" (1 Thes.
5:21) to see which prophecies come from God and which do not.
In his second letter to the Thessalonians,
Paul addresses the persecutions the church at Thessalonica is
experiencing. Paul encourages the members of this church and urges
them to stand fast (2 Thes. 1:3-12). He reminds them that, at
the coming of Christ, their steadfast faith will be rewarded and
their persecutors will be punished (1 Thes. 1:5-10). Paul also
warns them against a counterfeit prophecy purported to be his
but, in fact, is the work of the Evil One (2 Thes. 2:1-17). This
false prophecy caused confusion among them.
The main part of the letter seeks to quell speculation
about the second coming of the Lord. Paul reminds them what must
happen before the Lord returns, namely, apostasy and false signs
(2 Thes. 2:8-11).
These two letters with similar content and likely
written within the same year raise questions. Scholars wonder
if the first letter was addressed to Gentile converts, whereas
the second was addressed to Jewish converts. Some also speculate
that the second letter was not directly written by Saint Paul
but contained a message he wished to convey by his authority as
an apostle.
We turn now to Paul's letter to the Philippians.
Many scholars seem to think the letter was written between 54
and 57 but others date it between 61 and 63. If we accept 54-57,
then we would conclude that Paul was in Ephesus when he wrote
to the Philippians; it was also at Ephesus that he wrote Corinthians
1 and 2. Just to anchor this time frame, the emperor Claudius
died in 54 and Nero was elected emperor on October 13, 54.
Philippi was an important Roman town in northeastern
Greece. In a previous column, we already saw that at Philippi
Paul, together with Silas and Timothy, established the first Christian
community in Europe. This took place most likely during his second
missionary journey, around 49 or 50, just before Paul and his
companions moved on to Thessalonica.
In Philippi Paul met some interesting people: Lydia,
an industrious woman who was converted along with her household
(Acts 16:14); a slave girl from whom an evil spirit was driven
out (Acts 16:16-18); the jailer whom Paul and Silas ended up baptizing,
along with his family (Acts 16:25-34). Note that these household
conversions may have entailed the baptism of infants and children.
We also meet the magistrates who freed Paul and Silas and asked
them to leave (Acts 16:35-40). Later Paul would return to Philippi
on his way from Ephesus to Greece (Acts 20:1-2) and on his way
to Jerusalem (Acts 20:6).
Paul's letter to the Philippians was written while
he was in prison for treason and even in danger of death (Philippians
1:7; 20-23). In it, Paul urges the Christian community at Philippi
to remain united and to continue to grow in humility and peace
(Philippians 1:23-26). In that context Paul presents the beautiful
hymn which exalts in Christ's humble gift of self for the sake
of our salvation and as a motive for praise and worship (Philippians
2:5-11). Paul urges this church, evidently very beloved to him,
to model their lives on Christ's example, so that on judgment
day they would be a credit to him (Philippians 2:12-18). Paul
is grateful to the Philippians who sent Epaphroditus to look after
him during his imprisonment and illness (Philippians 2:25- 3:1).
Paul also warns against those who would place on the Christians
the burdens of Mosaic Law. In that context, Paul, recalling his
own conversion, vigorously teaches that we are saved by faith
and urges this community to be steadfast in hope (see Philippians
3:4-16).
As mentioned previously, Paul also wrote Corinthians
1 and 2 in the years 54-57 (see Acts 20:1-6). Paul had begun
a Christian community in Corinth about the year 51 during his
second missionary journey. He had Jewish converts but some turned
against him. Paul seemed to have more success with Gentile converts.
After Paul moved on to Galatia, Apollos, a convert from Judaism,
tirelessly continued Paul's work at Corinth of preaching Christ
(Acts 18:24- 28).
At Ephesus, however, Paul heard of deep divisions
in the church at Corinth, each faction claiming allegiance to
a Christian leader and asserting that their chosen leader's teaching
was preferable (see 1 Cor. 1:10, ff). In the meantime, the conduct
of the Corinthians was scandalous. This included a member engaged
in incest (1 Cor. 5:1- 13), others engaged in legal conflicts
against one another in the courts (1 Cor. 6:1-11) and still others
involved in pagan worship (1 Cor. 6:12-20; 10:14-22) - and that's
the sanitized version! These deep divisions, not surprisingly,
came to light in the celebration of the Eucharist.
In addressing those ills, Saint Paul provides us
with early teaching on the Eucharist (1 Cor. 10:14-22; 11:17-34).
Paul also answers the questions posed by the Corinthians regarding
marriage and virginity and offers to idols. As always, Paul does
not hesitate to assert his authority as an apostle and teacher
and call the erring Corinthians back to unity, authentic faith,
and, above all, charity.
Second Corinthians seems also to have been
written in Ephesus in 57, but we don't really know what prompted
it. In it, Paul, reflecting on the disorder in the Corinthian
community, calls into question his relationship to them even as
he expresses affection for them. All this was brought to head
by Paul's change in his plans to visit the church at Corinth as
well as his observations about other visiting missionaries who
were sowing a certain amount of confusion and dissension. On both
accounts Paul offered a spirited defense of his own ministry.
He also urged the Corinthians to take up a collection for the
church at Jerusalem, stressing the need to support the mother
church.
Some believe that 2 Corinthians includes materials
written at other places and times, and some also think it may
even be a compilation of shorter letters. Whatever the case, it
is clear that 1 and 2 Corinthians offer an important view of life
in the early Church - a view that reminds us that the difficulties
we face today, twenty centuries later, are really nothing new.
Around 54 or 55 Paul also wrote his letter to
the Galatians (though opinions about the letter's date vary
among scholars). It appears that Paul also wrote this letter while
he was at Ephesus. Galatia was an important Roman Providence in
the interior of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey, near its capital
city, Ankara). As noted earlier, Paul had visited and preached
in Galatia - most likely the northern part of the Province - though
there has been a long and vigorous debate about where Paul established
the church and thus the precise destination of his letter.
There has also been a long debate where the Galatians
came from (some say Celtic tribes from Gaul). Though there is
still not unanimity, many modern scholars believe that Paul wrote
to converts from paganism in the north rather than from Jewish
and Gentile converts in the south (see Galatians 4:2:1-10).
Paul opens his letter by expressing disappointment
that the Galatians had so soon departed from the Gospel under
the influence of those who would impose on them the requirements
of the Jewish law (Galatians 1:6-9). He goes on to establish the
authenticity of the Gospel he preached (Galatians 1:13-24) and
that his mission to the Gentiles was approved by the other apostles
(Galatians 2:1-10). For the coup de grace, Paul even mentions
that he corrected Peter when he wavered in his relationship with
Gentiles and Jews in Antioch (Galatians 2:11-21).
Paul forcefully argues that salvation is from faith
in Christ crucified not from the works of the law (Galatians 2:15-21):
"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live
but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh
I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself
up for me!"
Sometimes in our private reading or even at Mass
we are startled by how Paul upbraided them: "O foolish Galatians!
Who has bewitched you, before whose eyes was Jesus Christ publicly
portrayed as crucified? (Galatians 3:1-2)" Paul also warns that
Christ freed his new converts not only from slavery to the law
but also urges them not to fall into moral slavery. Christian
freedom is not permission to give in to the desires of the flesh
(Galatians 5:13; 6:10).
Your tour guide has run out of room! So next time
we'll resume our tour of Paul's epistles beginning with Romans,
Ephesians, Colossians, Timothy 1 and 2, Titus, and Philemon. If
there is time and space, we'll also look at the letter to the
Hebrews.
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"Fodor's,
Volume II"
Part 5
Fairfield County Catholic, November
8, 2008
It's time to continue our tour of the letters of
Saint Paul. As I hope you recall, the last column dealt with 1
and 2 Thessalonians; Philippians; 1 and 2 Corinthians; and Galatians.
Now we will complete our tour by looking at Romans; Colossians;
Ephesians; Philemon; 1 and 2 Timothy; and Titus.
Let's all recall what we're trying to achieve by
this "Fodor's Guide" to the letters of Saint Paul. My intention
is to provide an overview of all of Paul's letters, a sense of
when and why each one was written, and what their major themes
are. My hope is that this guide will prompt you to want to read
Paul's letters for yourself and provide something of a context
for the excerpts for Paul's letters that are often read at Mass.
So, without further ado, let's get back to work!
The first is Paul's letter to the Romans.
It was likely written about the same time as Galatians, around
57-58 A.D., while Paul was in Corinth. In the Acts of the Apostles
(20:3) we are told that Paul journeyed from Macedonia to Greece
and stayed there for about three months. Afterwards, in the face
of yet another plot against him, Paul traveled back to Macedonia,
to Philippi, then to Jerusalem where he would be arrested.
In writing to the Romans Paul departed from his
pattern of writing to the churches that he had previously visited
or even founded. On the contrary, Paul had not visited the church
at Rome and would not be in Rome until several years later when
he was brought there as a prisoner. Through the entire epistle,
Paul does not refer to conditions in the church at Rome. Instead,
he seems to be introducing himself and his teaching to the members
of that church. Paul also takes the occasion to work out his own
thought much more systematically than in previous letters, which
were written in response to questions he had received or problems
and controversies he had to settle. Paul's letter to the Romans
was his opportunity to spell out the Gospel he had been preaching,
namely, salvation to Jews and Gentiles alike in and through Christ
Jesus.
Consequently, we shouldn't be surprised that Romans
is the first of Paul's writings that we come to in the New Testament.
Nor should we be surprised that it has been the subject of nearly
endless commentary during these past two millennia. I can't hope
even to scratch the surface of those writings. But I can suggest
how this letter is structured and describe its central ideas.
The letter to the Romans is divided in two parts.
The first deals with salvation by faith. Paul explains that in
the absence of the Gospel of salvation both Jews and Gentiles
are under God's wrath. Through the Gospel, God, who alone is just,
extends His justice to us by the saving deeds of His Son, Jesus.
The justice of God justifies and reconciles the believer, not
observance of the law. Thus, the role of faith is paramount. Paul
presents Abraham, "our father in faith" as a prime example of
one who is justified by faith. We are the heirs of Abraham (Romans
4:1-25). Paul goes on to show how God's love, having justified
us who believe, brings us to salvation in Christ. In Romans 5:12
Paul tells us how sin entered the world through the one man, Adam,
and how, through Jesus Christ, the mercy of God overflows "for
the many." (Note: this is a key text for understanding the doctrine
of Original Sin). In light of the gift of salvation, Paul describes
for us the life of faith, hope, and love upon which the Christian
life is based.
At Romans 8:24, we find Paul's statement, "in hope
we were saved" (8:24), which is the basis of Pope Benedict's beautiful
encyclical on hope. In this section (Chapters 6, 7, & 8), Paul
goes to the heart of how we are saved, namely, through participation
in the death and resurrection of Christ through Baptism and the
sharing of His Risen Life, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Participating in Christ's death and resurrection means that we
are to put to death sin and the works of the flesh, in Greek,
sarx. Sarx means one's whole existence seen from
its bodily perspective though snared and infected by sin and the
works of sin. By contrast, the word for body (soma) can
mean the physical dimension of the whole person who is open to
the Spirit and linked with the saving love of Christ, as we shall
now see.
In the second part of Romans Paul spells out what
the Christian life consists of. Our life is to be a continual
act of worship and praise, an extension, if you will, of the liturgy
we celebrate. In light of God's mercy, Paul urges the Romans "to
offer [their] bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing
to God, [their] spiritual worship" (Romans 12:1). Paul goes on
to say that this is expressed primarily through a life of charity,
obedience to the legitimate demands of civil authority, and in
defending the weak against the strong. Paul also urges the Romans
to live in forgetfulness of self and in union with one another.
It is a sweeping reprise of themes from other letters but now
magnificently synthesized.
After Romans there follow the captivity epistles,
Colossians, Ephesians, and Philemon. This list also
often includes Philippians, though we dealt with it already
in the last column. What is meant by the phrase "captivity epistles"?
As the name implies, Paul wrote them while imprisoned. As Acts
24-26 tells us, Paul was imprisoned first at Caesarea, then, after
a tumultuous sea voyage that included shipwreck at Malta (Acts
27; 28:16), he was imprisoned for the first time in Rome. Some
date these events between the years 60 and 63. It is thought that
Paul wrote Colossians, Ephesians, and Philemon during his imprisonment
in Rome.
To complete this part of the story, Paul was released
and journeyed to Ephesus, Crete, and Macedonia before returning
in 66 or 67 to Rome where he was imprisoned for a second time
and martyred. To situate these events a bit more, in 64 the infamous
Roman Emperor Nero burnt parts of Rome and blamed the Christians,
touching off a severe persecution. Nero would die in 68, perhaps
not long after Paul's martyrdom.
Colossians, together with the other captivity
epistles, shows us that Paul continued the work of spreading the
Gospel even in prison. Colossae was about 100 miles east of Ephesus.
It had been evangelized not by Paul himself but rather by a native
of that town, Epaphras (1:7). Following his more usual pattern,
Paul found out about difficulties among the Colossians and composed
a letter he hoped would settle things on the basis of the Gospel
itself.
So we find at the outset of Colossians a beautiful
hymn to Christ that speaks to us of his preeminence (Colossians
1:15- 20). This hymn speaks of Christ as "the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of all creation" through whom all was made.
After glorifying God for Christ's role in creation, the hymn turns
to His work of redemption. Christ is praised as "the head of the
body, the Church . . . the beginning, the firstborn form the dead
. . . who made peace "by the blood of His Cross."
This is the mystery in which Christians participate
and the basis for dealing with the problems facing the church
at Colossae. These include a strong pull to return to the Judaic
law and its specific requirements, as well as some harmful philosophical
currents that were swirling about that tended to cast doubt on
the goodness of the body and the physical universe (Gnosticism).
In view of that, Paul proclaims Christ's primacy
over the created world, indeed, the cosmos, and sees redemption
itself as cosmic. Paul clarifies Christ's role as head of the
Church and in Colossians instructs us that we who are members
of His Body the Church "fill up what is lacking in Christ's sufferings"
(1:24). This does not mean that Christ's redemption was inadequate
but, rather, we who are members of Christ's body must participate
in those sufferings by our own. In this setting Paul also provides
guidance for the Christian life, especially for liturgical and
moral matters. He also offers guidance on what a Christian household
should be like and on the spirit of evangelization that should
characterize them.
The themes in Paul's letter to the Ephesians
are similar to Colossians, but the spirit of the letter is more
peaceful. In Ephesians, Paul doesn't seem to struggle with a congregation
in danger of going wayward. More like Romans, he offers an exposition
of his thought. Paul may also have had help in writing this letter.
In any event, Ephesians offers us a rich theology of the Church,
rooted in the primacy and saving activity of Christ. Like Colossians,
Ephesians begins with a beautiful hymn that describes the mystery
of Christ in the Church. The hymn sings of the Father's mysterious
plan of redemption (Ephesians 1:3-14).
The word "mystery" here does not mean a riddle or
something impossible to understand, but rather refers to the hidden
counsels of God whereby we are destined to share His life and
love as adopted sons and daughters through Christ and the outpouring
of His Blood. Summed up in the very few words of this hymn is
the entirety of salvation history. Into that context, Paul speaks
about reconciling Jews and pagans with God such that the Church
is revealed and built up.
In a passage often read at Mass, Paul tells us that
"we are no longer strangers and sojourners, but . . . fellow citizens
of the household of God, built on the foundation of apostles and
prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the capstone" (Ephesians
2: 19-20).
It is also in Ephesians that Paul spells out the
relationship of Christ to the Church as bridegroom and bride (5:22).
This is a key passage for understanding the nuptial love that
is at the heart of the Christian mystery. In the "new covenant
in His blood," Christ has "married" a people He claims as His
own. The Eucharist participates in the nuptial banquet of heaven.
Every soul is called to fall in love with God and to be His spouse.
All this and more is symbolized in the Sacrament of Matrimony
and is to be lived in the vocation of marriage and family life.
Paul's mission to bring the Gospel to the nations
is set within the context of God's mysterious plan for the redemption
of the whole world. Paul is God's instrument in revealing "the
mystery hidden for ages."
After praying for his readers, Paul's letter transitions
to a second part which deals with themes for living the Christian
life, including the obligation to seek and preserve Christian
unity and the call to put off the old man with his sinful ways
and to be clothed anew in Christ. Paul describes former vices
which the Ephesians must continue to eschew; instructs them on
how to relate to the world at large; returns to liturgical questions;
the Christian household; and the need for ongoing spiritual struggle
or combat.
The final captivity epistle to be considered here
is Philemon, probably written between 61 and 63 A.D. It
pertains to a slave from Colossae named Onesimus who was Paul's
convert. Onesimus ran away and may have committed theft as he
did so. Paul sends him back to his master but not merely as a
slave but, rather, as a "brother in Christ." Paul did not directly
challenge the institution of slavery - indeed, he did not look
to longterm social reforms because the second coming was regarded
as imminent - but he does regard Onesimus with an affection and
brotherly love that went far beyond social convention.
A final group of epistles for us to consider is
termed "pastoral." These were written in Paul's final years. This
group includes 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, the co-workers
of Saint Paul. They are called "pastoral" because they pertain
to the good order of the Church and because they were addressed
to pastors of the churches. Until relatively recently (19th-early
20th century), Paul was thought to be the author of these epistles
and some scholars continue to maintain that they were, indeed,
written by Paul. In any case, these letters strongly reflect Pauline
theology and concerns; at the very least they are "of his school."
It is likely that 1 Timothy was followed by Titus which in turn
was followed by 2 Timothy. All were written sometime after 63
A.D.
These letters have three common themes. First, there
is the importance of sound teaching. In ways that resonate with
current concerns, Paul urges his co-workers to spread and maintain
sound teaching. Second, Paul counsels his companions to the good
works that flow from life in Christ. He especially urges Timothy
and Titus to a life that gives credibility to their preaching.
Third, Paul talks about the role of bishops, presbyters, and deacons,
and the transmission of apostolic authority to Timothy and Titus,
and by extension to others.
On another occasion we hopefully will revisit the
question of the Letter to the Hebrews. For now, I hope
this tour of Saint Paul's epistles has been helpful. Among other
things, we should note the relevance of Saint Paul's concerns
for the Church in our day and see in his writings the contours
of the Church's doctrine on Christ and salvation; the Church and
her good order; the Sacraments; the moral life; and the life of
charity. In future columns, I will spell out themes I could only
hint at in this whirlwind tour.
Thanks for joining this tour! Next time we'll start
by looking at Saint Paul's teachings on Christ and His mysteries.
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"Thanksgiving
with Saint Paul"
Part 6
Fairfield County Catholic, November
22, 2008
The other day, someone said to me, “Thank goodness
Thanksgiving is almost here!” My friend meant to say that he
is looking forward to a few days of rest and relaxation next
Thursday and Friday!
Of course, we have to do more than “thank
goodness” at Thanksgiving. As members of the Church, the Body
of Christ, and as citizens of the United States of America, we
need to unite in giving thanks to God who has blessed us “more
than we could ever ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20). We should
be grateful to live in a democracy and grateful for an orderly
transition of power. Even in difficult and uncertain economic
times such as these, we live in a land abounding in blessings
and opportunity.
And, like many of you, I look forward to spending
some relaxing moments at Thanksgiving with family and friends.
There is so much for which we should be grateful. The GNP and
our investments might be slipping, but the praise and thanks
we owe to God is as great as ever.
So as you go about getting
ready for Thanksgiving, please consider a simple suggestion:
spend your Thanksgiving with Saint Paul. If you really want to
give thanks to God, Saint Paul is “the man to see.” In fact,
I read somewhere that Saint Paul is “the apostle and theologian
of thanksgiving.” And it’s true: his letters are suffused with
praise and thanksgiving.
In this Year of Saint Paul, let’s allow
the Apostle to show us how it’s done. If we take Saint Paul’s
words and example to heart, our prayer of thanksgiving will never
be the same.
An unscientific glance at Saint Paul’s letters
shows that he frequently uses the words of praise and thanksgiving.
Even the absence of a word count, it’s fair to say that giving
God thanks and praise is not optional but, rather, a very basic
part of what Saint Paul calls “life in Christ.” We can better
understand how this is so by looking at what prompted Saint Paul
to give God thanks.
Let me further suggest that we follow this
up with a two-part examination of conscience: First, do we give
God thanks as a regular part of our lives? Second, for what do
we give thanks? Is our list the same as Saint Paul’s?
Perhaps
the first thing we notice is that Saint Paul begins most of his
letters with a greeting that expresses praise and thanksgiving.
The only exceptions to this rule are Galatians, 1 Timothy, and
Titus. In all the rest we find Saint Paul introducing his letters
by thanking God for those to whom he was writing. What was Paul
doing? Some say Paul was just being polite; the custom of the
day was to begin letters with a mannerly greeting intermingled
with praise for the recipient.
But Saint Paul does something
more. He transforms the customary way of introducing letters
into acts of genuine praise and thanksgiving to God.
Saint Paul
typically gives thanks to God in and through Christ for the communities
or local churches to which he is writing. In Ephesians, Philippians,
and Colossians, Saint Paul employs hymns of praise used in the
early liturgy as part of an extended greeting. Both his initial
greetings and the hymns he quotes masterfully link what Christ
has done for our redemption with the life that the recipients
of his letters are or should be leading.
In this way, Paul gives
thanks to God the Father for His great deeds of salvation revealed
and accomplished by Christ but now at work in the Christian communities
to which he was writing. For example, in Ephesians (1:3) we read:
“Praised be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has bestowed on us in Christ every spiritual blessing in the
heavens.” Here Paul gives thanks for the Ephesians because they
have been chosen in Christ to be the adopted sons and daughters
of God, to find in Christ redemption from their sins, and to
understand by the light of faith God’s mysterious plan of salvation.
As the Christians at Ephesus read his words, they must have been
filled anew with praise and thanks for their election in Christ.
We find something similar in Philippians. As we
saw in previous columns, Saint Paul had a particular affection for the church
at Philippi. In Philippians 1:3-5, he writes: “I give thanks
to my God every time I think of you – which is constantly, in
every prayer I utter – rejoicing, as I plead on your behalf,
at the way you have all continually helped promote the Gospel
from the very first day.” Twenty centuries later, we can feel
Paul’s affection for them in these words.
Later on, Paul addresses
to them the kenotic hymn (Philippians 2:6-11) which celebrates
the mystery wherein Christ, the eternal Son of God, emptied Himself,
assumed our humanity, and died to save us out of loving obedience.
In words that swept up the Philippians in joyful thanks and praise,
he concludes: “So that at Jesus’ name, every knee must bend in
the heavens, on the earth, and under the earth, and every tongue
proclaim to the glory of God the Father: JESUS CHRIST IS LORD!”
(2:10-11).
You can find many other such examples of “grateful
greetings” in Paul’s writings: Romans 1:8 ff; 1 Corinthians 1:4-6;
Colossians 1:3; 1 Thessalonians 1:2-4; 2 Thessalonians 1:3; Philomen
4f; 2 Timothy 1:3.
Questions for Reflection:
If Saint Paul were
writing to us, would he find in our lives sufficient motive
for giving thanks and praise to God, or would we merit the
rebuke dished out to the Galatians: “O senseless and foolish
Galatians” (Galatians 3:1)!
Is there evidence that Christ is
at work in us and in those we love?
Do we, like Paul, express
our gratitude to God in our affection for those around us or
those for whom we bear some responsibility? For example, do
we priests thank God for the people we serve, even when we
feel tired or overworked?
Do you parents give thanks for your
families, including those members who are neediest?
Saint Paul also taught that it is our
duty to give thanks to God. Paul repeats this theme frequently
because he so frequently proclaims the blessing, grace, and favor
that God shows us in Christ Jesus. Thanksgiving is the response
we owe for the grace God showers upon us. For example, in 1 Thessalonians
5:16-18, Paul writes: “Rejoice always, never cease praying, render
constant thanks; such is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
To the divided and self-satisfied congregation at Corinth, Paul
speaks about the duty of giving thanks amid the hardships and
dangers of preaching the Gospel in a hostile environment: “You
must help us by your prayers,” he writes, “so that on our behalf
God may be thanked for the gift granted us through prayers of
so many” (2 Corinthians 1:11).
Later on, Paul reminds the Corinthians
that he did not come to preach himself but rather the “the glory
of God shining on the face of Christ.” Calling himself “an earthen
vessel,” Paul speaks fearlessly of the persecution and the danger
of death he has been able to face in the light of Christ’s resurrection
– dangers which the Corinthians have been largely spared. Celebrating
the triumph of grace amid adversity, Paul adds, “Indeed, everything
is ordered to your benefit, so that the grace bestowed in abundance
may bring greater glory to God because they who give thanks are
many” (2 Corinthians 4:15). If Saint Paul often faced suffering
alone, he did not wish to be alone in giving thanks to God for
His goodness.
Questions for Reflection:
At every Mass, in the
“dialogue” leading into the Preface, we say: “It is right to
give Him [God] thanks and praise.”
Do we trip over these words
without really meaning what we say?
Do we, in fact, believe
it is our bounden duty to thank God for sharing His life
with us?
Do we express our thanks
by faithfully attending Mass each Sunday?
Can we, like Paul,
not only suffer for our faith but also give thanks to God
amid the hardship which bearing witness to the Gospel often
entails?
Paul also teaches us that we give thanks
to God by fulfilling our vocations and by leading good moral
lives. As we have already seen, Paul put his life on the line
for the Gospel so that many people would unite in giving God
thanks and praise. As we can see in letter after letter, Paul
gives thanks because of the growing number of believers who come
together for liturgy to give thanks and praise to God. Paul also
teaches that thanksgiving to God is the motive for our charity.
When Paul asked the church at Corinth to donate
to the impoverished mother-church at Jerusalem, his motive was
not merely to alleviate practical needs; his motive was to prompt
the church at Jerusalem to give renewed thanks and praise to
God. He writes: “The administering of this public benefit not
only supplies the needs of the members of the church but also
overflows in much gratitude to God” (2 Corinthians 9:12).
Saint
Paul also teaches that our whole life should really be a protracted
act of praise and thanksgiving to God. At Colossians 3:16f, we
read: “Dedicate yourselves to thankfulness. Let the word of Christ,
rich as it is, dwell in you. In wisdom made perfect, instruct
and admonish one another. Sing gratefully to God in hymns and
inspired songs. Whatever you do, do it in the name of the Lord
Jesus. Give thanks to God the Father through Him.” Saint Paul
follows that with practical instructions on living the Christian
life. Elsewhere Paul tells us to “glorify God in our bodies”
(Romans 12:1) and presents praise and thanksgiving as the motive
for avoiding impurity and gluttony. Those who engage in such
practices dishonor the true and living God. “Their belly is their
god,” he warns (Philippians 3:19; Ephesians 5:5-6).
Questions
for Reflection:
Do we see our vocation
(marriage, priesthood, religious life) as the primary way
we’ve been called to give thanks and praise to God?
What
is the motive of our charity?
Is it to cause praise and
thanks among those whose lives we are privileged to touch?
Do we give thanks on the most routine day?
And do we glorify
God by keeping His commandments with the interior blessedness
Jesus tells us about in the Beatitudes?
Finally,
Paul exhorts us to give thanks not merely in public worship and
private prayer. As we have already seen, Paul expresses thanks
to God from hymns used in the liturgy. Paul’s letters are filled
with admonitions to join together in thankful worship and his
letters are filled with eruptions of praise and thanksgiving.
For example, he writes to the Church at Ephesus: “Give thanks
to God the Father always and for everything in the name of Christ”
(Ephesians 5:20; Colossians 3:16f). At Romans 7:25, Paul speaks
of his own wretchedness but adds, “All praise to God through
Jesus Christ our Lord!”
In 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 Paul explicitly
refers to the Eucharist. When we worthily partake of the Eucharist,
Paul tells us, “we proclaim the death of the Lord.” When we unworthily
partake of the Eucharist, we call down judgment upon ourselves
(1 Corinthians 11:26-28).
Prayer in the assembly of believers
is complemented by private prayer. At Philippians 4:6, Saint
Paul instructs us, “. . . present your needs to God in every
form of prayer and in petitions full of gratitude.” The prayer
of petition and the prayer of thankfulness are thus intertwined.
So fundamental is an attitude of praise and thanksgiving
that Paul tells the Colossians that they must be “overflowing
with gratitude” (Colossians 2:7; see also 4:2).
Even our ordinary
conversation should be marked by a spirit of thanks. Paul writes:
“Nor should there be any obscene, silly, or suggestive talk;
all that is out of place. Instead, give thanks” (Ephesians 5:4).
Questions for Reflection:
Is not absence from the
Eucharist, Christ’s gift of self to us, symptomatic of ingratitude?
Are we too busy to say
thanks in the way the Lord has asked of us?
Do we go to Mass
to be entertained or to give God thanks and praise?
Do we
pray in private? When we do, are prayers of praise and petition
intermingled?
Do we show thanks by praying
for the needs of others? Is our ordinary “table talk” characterized
by praise for God or by the ingratitude of “silly and suggestive”
talk?
Clearly, Saint Paul had a lot to say about praise
and thanksgiving. In fact, he speaks as one who gives thanks
because his whole life has been transformed by Christ. It is the transfigured heart
that gives God thanks and praise because it finds joy in reflecting
the beauty and goodness of His heart.
So, amid the festivities
of Thanksgiving, let’s try to do two things: First, reserve some
time for private prayer. Pick one or two passages from Saint
Paul on thankfulness and make it the basis of an extended prayer.
Second, go to Mass on Thanksgiving (and every Sunday).
The Eucharist is the supreme prayer of thanks and praise – it’s
the one Jesus offers for our sake; it’s the way in which you
and I are caught up in the Eternal Son’s perfect praise and thanks
to His loving Father.
Those two simple steps could make this
the best Thanksgiving ever.
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"Mystery!"
Part 7
Fairfield County Catholic, December
6, 2008
The First Preface for Advent (the introduction
to the Eucharistic Prayer) contains a compact phrase which all
but the most attentive worshipper is likely to miss.
Addressing God the Father, here is what it says:
“When [Christ] humbled himself to come among us as a man, He
fulfilled the plan you formed long ago and opened for us the
way to salvation.” Being trained as we are in the school of Saint
Paul, we can see how this brief statement is saturated with Paul’s
theology.
Take the phrase, “When [Christ] humbled himself
to come among us as a man . . .” This phrase itself refers to
the Incarnation of the Son of God: His becoming man by the power
of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary and
being born some 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem.
But if we look a bit deeper, we see a flash of
the “kenotic” hymn in Saint Paul’s letter to the Philippians:
“Though He was in the form of God, He did not deem equality with
God something to be grasped at. Rather, He emptied Himself (ekénosen)
and took the form of a slave being born in the likeness of men
. . . (2:6-7).” In this little liturgical phrase we can also
find a trace of 2 Corinthians 8:9: “You are well aware of the
favor shown you by our Lord Jesus Christ: how for your sake He
made Himself poor though He was rich, so that you might become
rich by His poverty.” As the fourth-century bishop, Saint Gregory
Nazianzen, said of those two passages:
“He who makes rich is made poor; he takes on
the poverty of my flesh, that I may gain the riches of his
divinity. He who is full is made empty; he is emptied for a
brief space of his glory, that I may share in his fullness.”
In the liturgical voice of the Church we thus hear
strong echoes of the Apostle’s proclamation of God’s humble gift
of self in the mystery of the Incarnation – to the Philippians,
the Corinthians, to generations of Christians, and now to us.
Let’s move on to the next phrase in our quote from
the Advent Preface: “He [Christ] fulfilled the plan you [God
the Father] formed long ago.” The word I’d like to single out
is “plan.” That is not exclusively a Pauline word but it seems
safe to say that this Preface is drawing on Saint Paul’s teaching
regarding God’s mysterious plan for the salvation of the world.
Several quotes from Saint Paul that bring together
the words “plan” and “mystery” come immediately to mind. The
first is Ephesians 1:7-10: “It is in Christ and through His Blood
that we have been redeemed and our sins forgiven, so immeasurably
generous is God’s favor to us. God has given us the wisdom to
understand the mystery, the plan He was pleased to decree
in Christ, to be carried out in the fullness of time . .
.” A second text is from Colossians 1: 25-27: “I became a minister
of this church through the commission God gave me to preach among
you His word in its fullness, that mystery hidden for
ages and generations past but now revealed to His holy ones.
God has willed to make known to them the glory beyond price which
this mystery brings to the Gentiles – the mystery of Christ in
you, your hope of glory.”
This text can be understood in light of the beautiful
hymn a few verses earlier in Colossians that begins with the
words, “Let us give thanks to the Father for having made you
worthy to share the lot of the saints in light” (Colossians 1:12
ff). The remainder of the hymn, while not using either the word
“plan” or “mystery,” goes on to describe in sweeping terms God’s
hidden plan of redemption as it unfolded in salvation history,
the very content of Paul’s preaching to the Gentiles.
In fact, it is quite a revelation when we “look
under the hood” of the liturgical prayers that we hear again
and again. Far from taking them for granted, we can enrich our
understanding of both the Bible and the liturgy by seeing how
masterfully the liturgy intertwines biblical allusions into the
prayers we offer. It is also important to consider why the liturgical
prayers refer us to certain Scripture passages at specific times
of the year. Our present study is a case in point.
Advent is the beginning of a new liturgical year.
As we move through the seasons of the liturgical year – Advent,
Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Ordinary Time – we are celebrating
the entirety of God’s plan of redemption. In the light of Saint
Paul’s teaching, Advent gives us the panoramic view of what we’re
in for as a new liturgical year unfolds. Like Saint Paul, Advent
presents the breathtaking scope of God’s immeasurable love –
from creation, to the dawn of human history, from God’s covenant
with the Chosen People confirmed through the Law and the Prophets
to its fulfillment by the coming of Christ into human history:
His Birth, His preaching and miracles, and, above all, by His
Paschal Mystery, His passage from death on the Cross to the triumph
of the Resurrection. From the vantage of Advent we, above all,
look toward the ultimate fulfillment of God’s plan, when Christ
will come again in glory and “bring all things into one . . .
in heaven and on earth” (Ephesians 1:10).
With the help of Saint Paul, we can see that Bible
and Liturgy have a common root: the marvelous works of the Trinity,
revealed “in the fullness of time” (Ephesians 1:10). Both are
comprised of God’s words and deeds revealed and accomplished
by Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. Scripture proclaims
the words and events that we encounter, relive, and make our
own in and through the liturgy. In fact, we arrive at the fullest
understanding of salvation history, that is, God’s mysterious
plan of redemption as it unfolded in His saving words and deeds
– only when we see how Scripture, doctrine, and worship fit together
to form a unified picture.
As we know from previous columns, Saint Paul’s
letters contained the doctrinally rich hymns used in by the earliest
Christians in their liturgies – the texts from Philippians, Ephesians,
and Colossians that we are studying in this column. Conversely,
the liturgical texts the Church employs are rich in biblical
allusions and doctrinal expressions. And may I observe in passing
that the long and difficult process of re-translating the liturgy
from Latin to English has as a primary goal to help us see more
clearly the rich and beautiful biblical, doctrinal, and patristic
references that are embedded in the Church’s liturgical prayers.
Let me also hasten to emphasize that the liturgy
is more than a source of information or a means of synthesizing
our knowledge; it is the privileged “place” where the words and
deeds of God are summed up and made present to us for the sake
of our redemption. When we speak of “celebrating the liturgy,”
we mean to say that we are truly encountering the saving events
from salvation history that we are recalling in and through the
liturgy; they are not merely represented to us, they are re-presented,
that is, made present again. This is so because, through the
action of the Holy Spirit, Christ and His saving deeds break
into the “now” of our existence so that we can be immersed in
them, transformed through them, and made one by our common encounter
with Christ and His mysteries.
If you don’t mind, we need to keep going in the
same direction, but now change gears. Let’s focus again on the
meaning of the word “plan” and “mystery” in Saint Paul. In the
past, some scholars used to think that Saint Paul borrowed the
word “mystery” from the pagan mystery cults that would have been
familiar to him and to his converts in the Greek world. Today
most scholars believe Paul fashioned and used the word “mystery”
to describe what he knew best, first as a student of the Jewish
Rabbi Gamaliel the Elder and then as an Apostle of the Risen
Lord: how the hidden God revealed Himself in history.
In fact, Paul’s use of the word “mystery” relates
more surely to its use in the later Old Testament writings (see
Daniel 2:19; Sirach 15:22; 48:25) and also to its use in the
writings of the Qumran community, a Jewish monastic community,
well-known to us through the Dead Sea Scrolls. In these texts
we find references to “a providential plan for men, angels, and
Israel” (see R. Brown, “The Semitic Background of the Term
‘Mystery’ in the New Testament,” Facet Books, Biblical Series
21, 1968).
In five passages Saint Paul treats the mystery
of Christ: 1 Corinthians 2:6-3; Romans 16:26-7; Ephesians 1:10
and 3:3; Colossians 1:26 and 2:2; and 1 Timothy 3:16. In all
of these passages the word “mystery” indicates the plan of redemption
that originated in the hidden counsels of God, a plan that hinges
on the identity and saving work of Jesus Christ. Indeed, the
word “mystery” properly belongs to God alone. It is the hidden
wisdom of the Trinity in which the plan to redeem the world was
conceived, designed, and executed.
This plan was announced by the prophets but revealed
in the words and deeds of Christ (see II Vatican Council,
Dei Verbum, 2), most especially His paschal mystery. The
goal of this plan is redemption, but this means more than eking
one’s way into heaven. Rather, we are called “to share the lot
of the saints in light” (Colossians 1:12); Christ in us is our
“hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). In other words, the goal of
this plan is to glorify God, that is, for us as members of the
Church to give God glory by reflecting His glory, a glory that
ultimately will transform not only us but, indeed, all of creation.
Because this plan of redemption reflects God’s wisdom and love,
it is to be encountered with living faith, celebrated with love,
and pondered in wonder and awe.
If I could presume to say so, Saint Paul is urging
us at the beginning of a new liturgical year to shed our resistance
to the mystery. Instead of placing our hopes in our hidden ambitions
and desires or, God forbid, cooperating with “the mystery of
iniquity” (2 Thessalonians 2:7), we should place our hope in
what God has planned for us, in the mystery of His divine mind
and heart, for our salvation. When we surrender to what He has
planned for us, then Bible, Doctrine, and Liturgy will come alive
for us as we finally come to see ourselves as participants in
the divine plan – called to glorify God by being glorified in
all aspects of our lives “through Him, with Him, and in Him.”
This Advent, with the help of Saint Paul’s prayers,
may our hearts awaken “in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior
Jesus Christ” (Roman Liturgy, Embolism; cf. Titus 3:6-7).
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