Tuesday, January 25, 2022

 Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, Apostle

(Acts 22:3-16; Mark 16:15-18)

C.S. Lewis was raised in the Church of Ireland.  At fifteen, however, he become an atheist.  His disbelief was spurned by the annihilation of World War I.  Later, under the Influence of friends, he reexamined what he had given up.  As a result, Lewis became one of the greatest apostles of modern times.

Lewis’ conversion resembles that of the great apostle, St. Paul.  A Pharisee by training, Paul could not tolerate Christianity’s flexibility regarding aspects of the Law.  Then Jesus showed him the light as today’s readings describes the event.  The Law is of great importance, but it is not greater than Jesus, the Son of God.  In him, who is both human and divine, the Law is resolved in love.  As Jesus gave his very life for them, his followers make sacrifices for the good of others.

Every human life has ordeals and struggles.  Only with love can we negotiate them with integrity.  With perfect love trials become joyful experiences because they join us closer to Christ.  Like St. Paul and C.S. Lewis we need conversion.  We must give ourselves to Christ so that the little love that we have may blossom.

Monday, June 17, 2019

Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

(II Corinthians 6:1-10; Matthew 5:38-42)

Although the Bible is the “word of God” written for the edification of all humans, each its books has a particular context.  Sometimes the context is apparent as in the Letter to Philemon where St. Paul pleads for the liberation of a slave.  Sometimes, however, it is obscure so that readers today cannot understand all the work’s references.  Scholarly opinion of the Letter to the Hebrews, for example, is divided regarding its original readers and intent as well as its author.  There is an element of uncertainty regarding the context of Paul’s so-called Second Letter to the Corinthians.  (Saying “so-called” just indicates that there is reason to think it is a compendium of letters written after Paul’s more famous First Letter.)

The uncertainty of the Second Letter regards the issue of reconciliation to which Paul refers in today’s reading.  In the previous verses he urged the Corinthians to “be reconciled to God.”  Here he indicates that the difficulty they were having with him caused their alienation from God.  What is the difficulty?  Perhaps some Corinthians took offense at some of Paul’s accusations in the First Letter.  Perhaps they have been influenced by a false interpretation of the gospel.  In correspondence between intimates rarely is the context fully explained.

Nevertheless, the Second Letter to the Corinthians reveals an enormous amount of information about St. Paul.  It tells us of his remarkable suffering on behalf of Christ and of his ongoing dialogue with him.  We stand in awe of this scholar missionary martyr.  We also thank God for his work that is, at least in part, responsible for our coming to know Jesus Christ.

Friday, May 10, 2019

Friday of the Third Week of Easter

(Acts 9:1-20; John 6:52-59)

Paul is so central to the establishment of Christianity that the story of his conversion is told three times in the Acts of the Apostles.  The accounts differ in details but all convey the central point: Paul was called directly by the Lord to missionary service. 

Interestingly, Jesus did not choose Paul because of his preaching ability.  Paul himself disclaims any charism for proclaiming orally the word of God. However, his gifts of theological profoundness and willingness to suffer make him a great missionary.  There is another factor, however, that contributed even more to Paul’s accomplishments.  Today’s reading mentions it.  Paul was “filled with the holy Spirit.”  The Spirit provided the zeal with which Paul worked.  More than that, it crowned all of Paul’s abilities and efforts with love of God and neighbor.  Paul’s profundity and his long-suffering were so productive because he cared deeply for others.

The same Spirit, of course, is ours.  It is bestowed as we enter the Church, the community of love.  It grows when we come together to share Christ’s Flesh and Blood.  Reversing the natural process, we become what we eat – more like our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Today the Church remembers two saints who, like all others, testified to the power the Holy Spirit.  St. Antoninus was the Dominican archbishop of Florence.  He oversaw the religious affairs of the city at his historical moment of greatness at the beginning of the Renaissance.  We also commemorate Fr. Damien, missionary to the lepers of Hawaii.  He took care of the outcasts so selflessly that he became one himself.

Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Wednesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

(Galatians 2:1-2.7-14; Luke 11:1-14)

It is hard to overestimate the contribution of St. Paul to early Christianity.  He was arguably its greatest theologian and its most successful missionary.   Although he continually proved himself a person of undaunted courage, he could also be tender and loving.  Today’s first reading indicates another supreme virtue of Paul.

Even though he received a mandate to preach from Christ, Paul never breaks covenant with the Twelve.  Quite the opposite, in the passage from Galatians Paul shows how he gave them deference.  He went up to Jerusalem for their approval of his mission.  He also gladly accommodated their desire that he take up a collection for poor Christians in Jerusalem.  But Paul is not necessarily placid before the regular apostles. When Peter tries to avoid criticism for eating with Gentiles, Paul charges him with hypocrisy. 

Paul serves us well both as a model to be imitated and a sage to be contemplated.  He loved Christ more than anyone or anything.  He also helps us to know the Lord by writing openly of his personal relationship with him.  It might not have been always comfortable to know Paul as exacting as he was.  However, the acquaintance would have brought us much closer to our goal of salvation.

Friday, April 20, 2018

Friday of the Third Week of Easter

(Acts 9:1-20; John 6:52-59)

In his new apostolic exhortation Pope Francis writes of the need for humiliation.  He says that people need to be humiliated so that they may become saintly.  He continues that humiliation conforms Christians to Jesus who suffered so much at the hands of humans.  He adds that Christ reveals the humility of his Father, who has accompanied His people only to be continually rejected.  In today’s first reading Paul undergoes significant humiliation.  It may be considered the fundamental step in his journey to saintly prominence.

Paul’s first humiliation is in meeting Jesus whom he dismissed as dead.  He has discovered that the cause to which he has dedicated himself is not only vain but also blasphemous.  He also suffers the humiliation of being blinded and having to be led about like a child.  For a capable man like Paul this humiliation must have been very frustrating.  Finally, Paul suffers the humiliation of initially being considered suspect by other Christians.  He is feared, no doubt, as a possible double agent.  These humiliations prove to be transformative.  Paul becomes so humble that he will accept hardship, torture, even execution.  Nothing is too great for him to endure in order to complete the mission given to him by the Lord.

It is interesting that Francis does not use “humbling” but “humiliation.”  Humbling would be less radical, more a regular step toward self-knowledge.  Humiliation implies an inflated self-image that calls for considerable downsizing.  Francis is suggesting, perhaps, what our mothers tried to teach us.  We must learn the world does not center around us.  Rather we have to serve in it, above all, the God who has created and redeemed us.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Tuesday of the Third Week of Easter

(Acts 7:51-8:1a; John 6:30-35)

A man sends a Twitter message: “As Pope Francis said today: ‘I am a sinner.’ There is something cathartic about saying that to yourself. We should all try it.”  St. Paul seems to have said that often enough with astonishing results.

Paul is introduced in the Acts of the Apostles with today’s reading.  He is, of course, the “Saul” who witnesses St. Stephen’s execution. (Paul, by the way, is not the Hebrew word for Saul but most likely the saint’s name given at birth and Saul the name he used in Jewish company.)  No doubt, the experience of seeing Stephen executed affected Paul profoundly.  At first, he wanted to see all followers of Jesus dispatched in a similar way.  Upon meditation of Stephen’s blessing while be stoned, however, Paul surely wondered about the grace that could allow a man to forgive those who were killing him.

As Pope Francis indicates, all of us sin.  But this does not mean that we are not to overcome sin with the grace of Christ.  Acknowledging ourselves as sinners is the first step in the process.  Then we need to pray for help and finally to act on the grace God offers us to reject temptation.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, apostle

(Acts 22:3-16; Mark 16:15-18)

Did Paul actually undergo a conversion? The question may sound silly today when we are celebrating just that, but students of the Bible have asked it seriously. They note that there is no change in Paul’s personal behavior. He does not, for example, give up drinking or come to scorn his Jewish roots. Rather he remains avid about religion although he will admit that being Jewish cannot compare with knowing Jesus Christ.

Paul’s zeal makes him capable of accomplishing so much. He will not only fulfill Jesus’ mandate to proclaim the gospel to everyone but also encourage those whom he has evangelized with sound pastoral letters. He becomes the consummate activist with a life completely given to Christ and thus rightly terminating in martyrdom.

Such a model may scare us. “Do I want to give myself over so completely?” we may ask. But let us keep two considerations in mind. First, although Christ wants us to tell others about him, he does not call the vast majority of us to put our heads on the chopping block. Second, Christ calls each of us by name as sure as he calls, “Saul, Saul,” in the first reading today. In other words, he loves us and will care for us as we make little sacrifices for him.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Friday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Ezekiel 19:59-63; Matthew 19:3-12)

The woman is no longer young. She has never married and, no doubt, wonders if she ever will. She asks for a book on sexual ethics to guide her. She says that most of what she sees pertains to married couples or to youth who one day will marry. She infers that the Church has abandoned people in her position. Even in the gospel today Jesus does not seem to address the possibility that one may not marry because there never was a decent opportunity to do so.

The apostle Paul does take up the issue in the First Letter to the Corinthians where he says that that “it is a good thing” that the unmarried and the widowed remain as they are if they can exercise control over their passions. He reasons that the unmarried may concern themselves exclusively with pleasing the Lord where the married have various interests competing for their attention.

But Jesus is actually not far from Paul as he advises that those who can accept what he teaches about forsaking marriage for the sake of the Kingdom – much akin to “pleasing the Lord” – should do so. Furthermore, those who lack opportunity to marry may be likened to those who are made incapable of marriage by others. They need not lament over their situation but consider it carefully. They should discern, as professed celibates readily acknowledge, that being unmarried offers manifold possibilities for service, friendship, and education.

Homilette for Monday, October 12, 2009

Monday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

(Romans 1:1-7; Luke 11:29-32)

St. Augustine famously said, “With you I am a Christian; for you I am a bishop.” The first title, the bishop of Hippo went on, filled him with consolation while the second one made him fearful. Augustine, like Paul in his introduction to the Romans which we read today, realized that Christ comforts his people. On the other hand, to be a bishop or any minister means to stand in the place of Christ – which is the humongous task of treating others with his care.

Christians, like Paul says of himself, are in a sense slaves of Christ. We do what he commands. But this term by no means exhausts our identity. More than that, we are Christ’s sisters and brothers, adopted into God’s family as daughters and sons. This means that we carry out Christ’s commands not out of submission but out of freedom. We no longer see God as a prisoner views the warden watching every move he makes. Rather God is more like a mother observing her baby begin to walk and ready to assist the baby with each step.

Paul also emphasizes that Christ has sent him out as his apostle. But he does not claim any particular privilege for being so named. Rather he realizes the terrible burdens that Christ has laid upon him with the sending. In other writings Paul lists the sufferings that he has undergone in bringing the gospel to others. For now he seems content with mentioning how the call to apostleship links him with women and men in different places as sisters and brothers.

Homilette for Monday, June 8, 2009

Monday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

(II Corinthians 1:1-7; Matthew 5:1-12)

Once an oriental man visiting churches in Italy was amazed to see so many images of someone hanging on a cross. He asked something like, “What evil deed could that guy have done so that they don’t want anyone to forget it?” Unlike this oriental we see the crucifix in a completely benign way. Just as Paul speaks of being encouraged by Christ's sufferings in the opening of the Second Letter to the Corinthians, so our meditation on the crucifix provides us consolation to face the hardships of life with equanimity and hope.

As the year of St. Paul comes to a close, let’s reflect briefly on his contribution to our lives. Of course, he was the great apostle journeying, tirelessly, bravely, and successfully to tell our ancestors about Christ. We may credit our being Christian today to his efforts. He also brilliantly laid the groundwork to our understanding about Christ, especially in relation to Judaism. Equally important, his letters convey sensibilities similar to our own which make credible our following Jesus in the midst of a society which often moves in a different direction. Paul gives us confidence that Jesus’ story is no myth but answers the questions of an acutely honest person who from an encounter with Christ was convinced that whatever sacrifices he had to make for him are well worth the trouble.

Homilette for Thursday, May 7, 2009

Thursday of the Fourth Week of Easter

(Acts 13:13-25; John 13:16-20)

Biblical students count three distinct “missionary journeys” of St. Paul in the Acts of the Apostles. Although Paul himself did not likely divide his preaching so neatly, the three-journey arrangement helps us appreciate the apostle’s tremendous sacrifice. The section from Acts that we read today shows Paul shortly after commencing his first expedition.

Paul typically goes to the Jewish synagogue of the town he is visiting. There people would at least have perspective for understanding his message. He preaches salvation by faith in Jesus – what is frequently called the kerygma of the early Church. In today’s reading Paul’s kerygmatic message summarizes the story of salvation from the slavery of the Hebrews in Egypt to the preaching of John the Baptist. It continues tomorrow with his relating the role of Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s promise.

As Paul proclaims the kerygma on his missionary journeys, the Church calls us to be missionaries. Two years ago the bishops of Latin America described Catholic Christians as “missionary disciples.” As disciples, we allow ourselves to be formed according to the word of God. As missionaries, we give testimony of that word to others. We should not shy away from speaking of how belief in Jesus has meant all the difference in the world to us. We should also proclaim the word by rendering loving service to family, neighbor, and community.

Homilette for Monday, September 10, 2007

Monday, XXIII Week of Ordinary Time

(Colossians 1-2)

The first reading contains Paul’s mystical pronouncement that he makes up in his own sufferings what is lacking in Christ’s. Some, finding scandalous the idea that anything might be missing in Christ’s passion, may call for a retranslation. Wiser minds, however, assume that Paul does not mean that there is anything deficient about Christ’s suffering and death. It is only that Christians as part of his body have the opportunity to suffer patiently with him for the benefit of others.

Suffering is multi-dimensional. Physical pain hurts, but it is not necessarily the worse of sufferings. Mental pain – guilt, abandonment, worry – can be more trying. On the cross in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark Jesus suffers both kinds to the limit. The scourging and the nailing were no doubt excruciating, but these inflictions seem to be eclipsed in the picture which these two gospels paint of complete desertion. Everyone taunts Jesus. One commentator says even the offer of wine is meant only to prolong his agony. No friend is at hand to offer support. Jesus even feels the absence of his Father as he cries out, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

None of us escapes the troubles and turmoil of life perhaps aggravated by loneliness and depression. It has always been Catholic to say, “I will offer it up.” The words are not sanctimonious if we keep in mind Jesus on the cross or Paul in prison praying for the communities he evangelized. Accepted patiently and prayerfully, our suffering also may contribute to the salvation of the world.