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A year in honor of St. Paul
Written by Most Rev. William Higi, bishop of Lafayette – in – Indiana
PRAISED BE JESUS CHRIST!
(Now and Forever)
The feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, June 29, is a major liturgical event in the Church year (a solemnity) and a really big deal in Rome. Peter and Paul are the principal patrons of Rome. Both are buried there, the tomb of St. Peter marked by the magnificent Basilica of St. Peter’s in the Vatican and the tomb of St. Paul by the Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls.
Both Peter and Paul received a special commission from Christ. There is more New Testament information about these two men than all the other apostles put together.
In the Bible, Peter heads the list of the 12 apostles and is their spokesman on most solemn occasions. After Christ’s ascension, Peter was the undisputed leader of the Church. St. Peter is thought to have been the first bishop of Antioch. It is certain he spent his last years in Rome. How he got to Rome and precisely when is not known.
Paul, a tent maker by trade, is thought to have been about 10 years younger than Jesus. He is known as the apostle to the Gentiles or to “the Nations.” Although he never met Jesus face to face, Paul had a dramatic conversion experience, authored the earliest New Testament writings and, through those writings and his extensive travel, exerted an unsurpassed influence on Christianity, particularly in its transition from Judaism to Christianity.
Through his letters (the New Testament epistles) and from the accounts of Paul found in the fifth book of the New Testament, The Acts of the Apostles, Paul can be said to have been the figure best known to first-generation Christians, after Christ, of course.
In June 2007, during vespers (evening prayer) for the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls, Benedict XVI announced a special jubilee year to mark the 2,000th anniversary (more or less) of the birth of St. Paul. The intent of this Pauline Year, which runs from June 29, 2008, to June 29, 2009, is to inspire modern Christians to imitate St. Paul’s missionary energy and spirit of sacrifice. There will be special events in Rome. The Holy Father said he hopes celebrations will also be held in churches throughout the world that have a special link to St. Paul.
Paul had two names: Saul and Paul. Born of a Jewish family from Tarsus (now eastern Turkey), Saul was his biblical name, Paul his Roman name. His father apparently was granted Roman citizenship, an honor somewhat rare to non-Romans. It has been suggested that Paul’s father wanted to show his gratitude to the Pauli family for arranging his citizenship. It was no small thing for a non-Roman to be a citizen of Rome in the ancient world. Whatever the source of his Roman name, we know that Saul/Paul was educated strictly in Jewish ancestral law in Jerusalem at the feet of the great Rabbi Gamaliel, which probably explains his extensive use of explicit Old Testament citations (at least 90) and his familiarity with first-century interpretations of the Old Testament. The Pharisees had given Jesus a hard time. Interestingly, Paul was a Pharisee before his conversion.
The task given to Saul/Paul was to preach the word of God in Asia Minor (currently Turkey), Syria and Arabia (now Jordan) before reaching Europe, Greece and, ultimately, Rome. The New Testament chronicles three missionary journeys followed up by a voyage to Rome as a prisoner after he invoked his Roman citizenship to escape a conspiracy to kill him. His extensive travels are truly amazing in that much of the territory had to be covered on foot.
In Rome, under what we would call house arrest today, Paul wrote and evangelized for some two years. His incarceration is mentioned in several of his epistles. His epistles to the Colossians, Philippians, Ephesians and to Philemon are known as “captivity epistles.” We know that he was incarcerated more than once.
The “I appeal to Caesar” case against Saul/Paul eventually dissolved for lack of accusers. Then in the year 64 AD, after the great fire in Rome, the Emperor Nero accused the Christians of being the arsonists. Paul was condemned to death by beheading, which likely took place between the year 65 and 67 AD. Beheading was considered a “humane” form of execution. Crucifixion was the lot of those who were not citizens of the empire.
Insight into the stature of Saul/Paul and his witness for Christ is found in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, where Saul/Paul chronicles that he had been scourged five times at the hands of the Jews; three times he was beaten with rods; once he was stoned; he was shipwrecked three times; he passed a day and a night adrift on the sea; he traveled continually, endangered by floods, robbers, his own people, and Gentiles. He endured labor, hardship, many sleepless nights, and went hungry and thirsty (2 Cor. 11:24-27).
When it comes to missionary energy and sacrifice, Saul/Paul stands at the top of the honor roll.
In calling for the Pauline Year, Benedict XVI said: “Dear brothers and sisters, as in the (Church’s) beginning, today too, Christ needs apostles ready to sacrifice themselves.” I urge my readers to make this the context for reflection on the vocation given to all of us through the sacraments of initiation. While that vocation can be articulated in a variety of ways, it comes down to three basic points: to live our Catholicism with enthusiasm; to actively reach out to others, inviting them to join us in professing the Catholic faith to which the Lord has called us; and to take the values of Jesus Christ in which we are formed by the Church into our daily lives so the world in which we live can be transformed through the saving power of Jesus Christ.
One way to observe the Pauline Year would be to set aside time on a regular basis to prayerfully read The Acts of the Apostles, starting with chapter eight. Those chapters reveal what a truly remarkable man Paul was. Hopefully, doing this will inspire us, with renewed vigor during the Year of St. Paul, to live our Catholicism with greater enthusiasm, to invite others to join us in embracing the Catholic faith, and in witnessing to the values of Jesus Christ in our daily lives so that through us the world in which we live might become a better place.
St. Paul, pray for us.
Printed with permission from the Diocese of Lafayette – in – Indiana.
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