Sunday July 13th. 2008
St. Paul’s Basilica, Rome, where his body is buried
St. Paul
Paul is called "the Apostle to the Gentiles". He never actually met Jesus during his life, as the other Apostles did. He is the first apostle to have experience of only the Risen Christ, and all Christians will continue to have this experience down the centuries, although not in such a dramatic manner as St. Paul. This man, who was both a Jew and a Roman citizen, was born in Tarsus (currently Eastern Turkey). His wealthy parents sent him to Jerusalem to study at the school of the Pharisees, and he received a rigorous training in the Law from the Rabbi Gamaliel, who later was to become a Christian. To his parents’ dismay, Saul became involved with a small radical Jewish group, and zealously helped to suppress the Jewish heresy which was being spread by the followers of the crucified Christ. He watched with approval while Stephen. a leading Christian, was stoned to death. He then set off for Damascus to seek out and arrest any Christians in that city. It was while he was on the road to Damascus that he was struck by a blinding light and heard a voice saying: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?. To Saul’s question, the voice answered: “I am Jesus” Saul was healed of his blindness, baptised, and instead of persecuting the Christians in Damascus, he preached Christ crucified to them, and made many converts.
Paul is called "the Apostle to the Gentiles". He never actually met Jesus during his life, as the other Apostles did. He is the first apostle to have experience of only the Risen Christ, and all Christians will continue to have this experience down the centuries, although not in such a dramatic manner as St. Paul. This man, who was both a Jew and a Roman citizen, was born in Tarsus (currently Eastern Turkey). His wealthy parents sent him to Jerusalem to study at the school of the Pharisees, and he received a rigorous training in the Law from the Rabbi Gamaliel, who later was to become a Christian. To his parents’ dismay, Saul became involved with a small radical Jewish group, and zealously helped to suppress the Jewish heresy which was being spread by the followers of the crucified Christ. He watched with approval while Stephen. a leading Christian, was stoned to death. He then set off for Damascus to seek out and arrest any Christians in that city. It was while he was on the road to Damascus that he was struck by a blinding light and heard a voice saying: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?. To Saul’s question, the voice answered: “I am Jesus” Saul was healed of his blindness, baptised, and instead of persecuting the Christians in Damascus, he preached Christ crucified to them, and made many converts.
After spending two years alone in the desert to be close to God, he returned to Jerusalem, where he was given a specific mission by St. Peter to go and preach the Word of God to all—first, he went to Antioch and Asia Minor, later to Greece and Rome. Paul preached and gave witness to the teachings he received from the Apostles and from his own personal experience of the Risen Christ.
The story of his life is described in detail by St. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles. His Letters represent an extraordinary source of spirituality about the Risen Christ, whom he encountered, and also the crucified Christ whom he loved so much, and whose sufferings he tried to bear in his own body. Pope Benedict asks us to take time during this Pauline Jubilee Year to read and meditate on the letters of St. Paul, for there, he says, you will meet the great faith of Paul in his Lord and master, and his total commitment to serving Christ. Finally, Paul could say at the end of his life: I live now, not I, but Christ lives in me. His divinely inspired letters will bring us closer into touch with Christ, and encourage us to seek the same union with Christ as he had. He is the patron of ecumenism, for he tried so hard to bring together people of many religious persuasions, and pagans, to be part of the one body of Christ.
He was falsely accused, as Christ was, and was put to death in Rome by being beheaded, possibly along with Peter, who was crucified. A basilica was built over the place where was martyred, and his body lies below the altar.
Make a resolution during this Pauline Jubilee Year to take out your book of the scriptures and read a small portion each day from St. Paul’s letters. They have the power to change your whole life!