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PAUL: BRIDGE BETWEEN
TWO WORLDS |
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"God, who
has set me apart before I was born and called me through his
grace, was pleads to reveal his Son to me so that I might
proclaim him among the Gentiles."
(Gal 1:15-16) |
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leaving the earth to rejoin his Father, Jesus’
final commission to his disciples was to bring his message
of love from Jerusalem and out of the confines of the
land of the Jews, to the ends of the earth.
There was a big problem involved in this mandate: “Would
something which appeared to be a Jewish thing be acceptable
to the world?”
Other nation nurtured a strong antipathy towards the
Jews because they saw them as too exclusive.
Typical Jews of that time believed that since Israel
was God’s “chosen people,” all other
nations were rejected by God. Thus they looked at other
people with contempt. And in turn, they were regarded
by other nations with suspicion, if not with open hostility.
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The
person who would bring the universal message of Christianity
out of its Jewish confines would have to be a very special
person. He would have to be a “man from the inside,”
a Jew, whose racial pride placed him at odds with the
rest of the world, he would have to be open to other
cultures and respectful of other peoples’ ideas
and ways of living.
He ought to be a man comfortable in both worlds –
the world of the Jews and the world of the
non-Jews.
In God’s own time, he raised up that man in the
person of Paul of Tarsus.
Paul was a Jew through and through. His becoming a Christian
never made him a renegade Jews, who would turn his back
on his heritage.
In the context of his defence against the attacks of
opponents, Paul never hesitated to stress
his Jewishness: Are they Hebrews? So I am. Are they
Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham?
So am I. (2 Cor 11:22) |
| What
made Paul different from the ordinary Jew of his day? |
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Paul was
born in Tarsus, which he described as “a no mean
city.” His boast was not without justification.
Tarsus was the capital of the Roman province of Cilicia.
It was a large prosperous port and a commercial centre
that welcomed traders from all over the known world
of that time.
It was a celebrated centre of learning that produced
and
exported a good number of famed scholars and philosophers.
There could not have been a more ideal place in which
to bring up a child who would soon be a missionary to
the world. In this cosmopolitan milieu, Paul learned
to establish his first connections with non-Jews, a
fact that as a seed for his
future mission as Apostle of the Gentiles.
The final broad stroke that completes this portrait
of Paul is the fact that he was a Roman citizen by birth,
thus with a claim to rights and privileges which were
transnational and transcultural. |
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No
doubt, Paul had this personal background in mind when
he declared that, “I had been set apart before
I was born, and called through God’s grace”
(Gal 1:15).
God prepared the “bridge” and through him
brought across his message to all his children,
for whom it has always been intended.
From the book of Bernardita Dianzon, FSP: Glimpses
of Paul and His Message
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YEAR
FOR PRIESTS - 2009 - 2010
FAITHFULNESS OD CHRIST, FAITHFULNESS OF PRIESTS |
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General
Audience 1/07/2009 - Pope
Benedict XVI
There is a close link between
the Pauline Year, which concluded last Sunday, and the
Church’s current celebration of the Year
for Priests. As we have seen, Saint Paul,
in his life and his writings, teaches us that the mystery
of Christ must stand at the very heart of our lives as
individuals and
as a community. This is true in a very special way of
priests.
In Saint John Mary Vianney, the patron saint of parish
priests, we see a wonderful example of a priest whose
person was completely identified with his ministry.
The priest’s personal identity, grounded in his
calling and his sacramental configuration to Christ, may
not be separated from his pastoral activity. |
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Click on the link below to download your required
document:
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| Paul
in his own words |
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The hymn on love
Love
is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love)
is not pompous, it is not inflated,
it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over
injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices
with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things, hopes
all things, endures all things.
Love never fails”.
1 Cor 13:5-8
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| TO
GO DEEPER … |
resources |
PAUL
AND JESUS
The
True Story
David Wenham |
| 2002
195pp R229.50 |
A STILL
MORE EXCELLENT WAY
How St. Paul Points
Us
to Jesus
Joseph Durepos
|
| 2008
118pp R95.00 |
PRAYING
WITH SAINT PAUL
Daily Reflections
on the Letters of the Apostle Paul
Editor: P. J.
Cameron, OP
|
| 2008 382pp R165.00 |
PAUL
HIS STORY
Jerome Murphy-O’Connor
|
| 2008(Reprint)
260pp R190.00 |
THE
LIFE OF ST. PAUL
Lawrence Boadt, CSP
|
| 2008
104pp R199.50 HC |
THE
GREATEST OF THESE
IS LOVE
Daily Meditations on St
Paul
Bishop Michael Campbell
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| 2008
80pp R132.50 |
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www.annopaolino.org
(In English)
St.
Paul's Basilica
Thinking
Faith Series
Articles on St. Paul |
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