(Optional)
Memorial of Saint Paul VI, pope
(Acts 25:13b-21; John 21:15-19)
Today the Church remembers St. Paul VI. He was pope during most of the Second Vatican
Council and its immediate aftermath. Paul allowed many priests and sisters to
be dispensed from their vows with all the soul-searching in the council’s
aftermath. Yet he was not a
modernizer. On the defining issue of the
age, artificial contraception, Paul maintained the Church’s censure. He was a man with a mission much like his
namesake St. Paul of Tarsus whom is encountered once again in today’s first
reading.
Paul feels a calling to Rome. He has written the church there to seek assistance. He intends to launch from Rome a missionary journey
to Spain. The reading from Acts tells of
Paul’s request to be tried by the emperor.
Could this have been a ploy to put in motion his grand scheme of a
western mission? In any case, Paul has suffered
for Christ much. He has already been
imprisoned for two years. Shortly he
will embark for Rome on a journey that will see him shipwrecked. In Rome he will undergo martyrdom, the
ultimate persecution. He will be beheaded
because of his belief in Christ.
Neither Paul VI nor Paul of Tarsus would deny that it is
hard to follow Christ. His way of love
means not only self-denial but also the resentment and rebuke of others. Yet their lives had at their base a profound
joy. Evidently Christ stops along the
way to let his followers catch up. They
then experience the wonder of his company.
