Year of Saint Paul

by Aggie Neck                                                          

Second in a Series of Reflections

on the life of Saint Paul

For the Jubilee Year of St. Paul

June 28, 2008-June 29, 2009

ST. PAUL AND THE WORD


St. Paul , a man of his word and the man of the New Testament Word wrote thirteen of the twenty-seven books in the New Testament. They are filled with a passionate call to Jesus Christ and speak of the strong conviction of Paul’s life. He believed what he lived and lived what he believed. He was so positive that Jesus was the Messiah promised in the Old Testament that his writings speak of “hoping to make every man complete in Christ. For this I work and struggle, impelled by that energy of his, which is so powerful a force within me” (Col. 1: 28-29). “If our hopes in Christ are limited to this life only, we are the most pitiable of men” (1 Cor. 15:19). What a powerful witness these and many other statements are.

St. Paul’s ministry was mainly to the Gentiles so they could receive the message of salvation. He who was a Pharisee, a strict observer of the law, and a persecutor of ‘The Way,’ defends with his life the message that was revealed to him on the road to Damascus. He preached to the Jewish people first and held on to the hope for them to come to know their Messiah. “Brothers I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery lest you be conceited: blindness has come upon part of Israel until the full number of Gentiles enters in, and then all Israel will be saved” (Rom 11:25-26).

It is St. Paul who informs us that Jesus “was seen by five hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still alive,” (1 Cor. 15:6) he declared. This statement is a positive proof that the Resurrected Lord was seen by others besides the Apostles.
He also reveals to us the fact of his visions and revelations saying that he knew a man in Christ (Paul) who “was snatched up to the third heaven” and “was snatched up to Paradise to hear words which cannot be uttered, words which no man may speak”
(2 Cor. 12:2, 4). This must be a strong reason that he was so positive about the message and the urgency to proclaim it. He writes, “Christ is living in me. I still live my human life, but it is a life of faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal.2:20). “My entire attention is on the finish line as I run toward the prize to which God calls me – life on high in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14). It is a call to all of us to focus on the finish line.


Many of the Letters of St. Paul proclaim to us who we are and what is expected of us.
We are “sealed with the Holy Spirit who had been promised” (Eph. 1:13); we are “created in Christ Jesus to lead the life of good deeds which God prepared for us in advance” (Eph. 2:10). “All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God”
(Rom. 8:14 ). “Are you not aware that you are the temple of God , and that the Spirit of God dwells in you” (1 Cor. 3:16 -17)?

These are only a few of the sayings of who we are and what we become through Christ Jesus. In this the year of St. Paul, look for more of them as you read his writings and take them into your heart.


© August 2008 National Service Committee

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