6/25/2009
A Pauline Year to remember
| |
|
 | Most Rev. John Vlazny
Archbishop of Portland |
On Monday, June 29, Pope Benedict XVI will solemnly close the Pauline Year in St. Peter’s Basilica, the very same date and place where he inaugurated this year of jubilee in 2008. The day marks the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, both of whom are described as founders of the church of Rome.
St. Paul is one of the great teachers of our Catholic faith. His writings are a significant part of the New Testament. Tradition tells us that he was beheaded as a punishment for his public witness of Jesus as King and Savior. Pope Benedict stated that the goal of this Pauline Year has been “to learn from St. Paul, to learn faith, to learn Christ and, finally, to learn the way of right living.”
My first significant encounter with St. Paul came in my junior year of high school when I was studying Greek. That year my teacher was Father Martin Howard and the first piece of Greek literature that he taught us how to translate was St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. It was the first time in my life I read a book of the Bible from beginning to end! Until then I had only heard individual chapters or individual verses in church. I was not then in the habit of picking up the Bible and reading lengthy passages. I was amazed at what St. Paul had to say to his friends in Corinth. That is undoubtedly the reason I enjoyed Greek class much better than Latin. After all, St. Paul was much more interesting than Julius Caesar to a sixteen-year-old youngster.
As a seminarian in Rome I really fell in love with the Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls, one of the four major basilicas in the Eternal City. It was one of the first churches in which I celebrated Mass after my ordination as a priest. The structure was impressive, yes, but the story of the man’s life, his dramatic conversion and his marvelous teachings all impressed me greatly. I guess you could say I wanted to be another St. Paul. I missed the mark but it’s always good to set one’s sights high.
Here in the Archdiocese of Portland I have asked our pastors to bring this Pauline Year to a solemn close at our Sunday Masses on June 28, the day before the apostles’ solemnity. Sister Jeremy Gallet, the Director of our Office of Worship, provided some resources that might be helpful to our parishes in closing this Year of St. Paul. She suggested some alternative second readings from St. Paul’s writings or the Acts of the Apostles, hymns that might be especially appropriate at Mass and general intercessions that would honor this great saint who was a model for all of us of what it means to be a true disciple of Christ.
Pope Benedict himself through this Pauline Year offered many instructions about the life and teachings of Paul during his Wednesday audiences. He began with an instruction about the religious and cultural environment in which St. Paul found himself during his general audience on July 2, 2008. He concluded with an instruction on St. Paul’s life and legacy during the general audience on Feb. 4 of this year. Since one of his goals for this Pauline Year was to learn from St. Paul, I’d like to offer you a few passages from Paul’s writings that have impacted me significantly and might be helpful to you in your own efforts to be a good and faithful disciple of the Lord.
The first is taken from Verse 7 of Chapter 4 in St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. Paul wrote, “We hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us.” It is a reminder to all of us in pastoral ministry that our own weaknesses and limitations are not barriers to God’s plan but may even be more suitable vehicles for the fulfillment of God’s plan, since it will be obvious to people that only with God’s help, and certainly not by our own merits, can the work of the church be accomplished.
Another favorite is taken from Paul’s Letter to the Romans, Chapter 7, Verse 19. There St. Paul writes “For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want.” Isn’t that the struggle we all face? In our struggles with temptation and sin, we want to do what is right, but, sad to say, too often we do not, because, as St. Paul says, “Sin… dwells in me.” It is only by the amazing grace of God that we achieve holiness and will live with God forever. The struggle between good and evil goes on, even within us. But thanks to Jesus Christ, we too shall one day be victorious in that struggle.
Paul’s epistle to the Romans also brings another beautiful reminder that we often hear at funerals. He writes in Chapter 14, Verses 7 and 8, “None of us lives for one’s self and no one dies for one’s self. For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord; so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” Yes, we are the Lord’s! No one or nothing owns us because we all belong to the Lord. What a consolation that is on our journey along the road to glory. Our loving and provident God watches over us and eagerly awaits our return home.
St. Paul was also the one to introduce the phrase “Body of Christ” to describe the community of Christian believers. He used this expression in his Letter to the Ephesians, Chapter 4, where he writes, “And he gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the Body of Christ.” I remember quite vividly the theme song of World Youth Day 1993 in Denver when hundreds of thousands of young people were singing with gusto “We are the Body of Christ, Somos el Cuerpo de Christo.” It was my prayer back then and still is that we shall always measure up to that incredible calling.
Finally I remind you of the words of Paul in his Second Letter to Timothy, Chapter 4. Timothy was one of his disciples to whom he entrusted the church’s evangelizing mission. When he wrote these words Paul was obviously coming to the end of his life’s journey. He writes, “For I am already being poured out like a libation, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.” Those words inspire me as I plod on in my efforts to be a disciple in mission with all of you. Every day I pray to the patron of my Baptismal church, St. Cecilia, that I will never lose my faith. Too many of my friends and relatives have lost that precious gift. It is a treasure, but it can be lost.
St. Paul is a marvelous model of courage, commitment and conviction. This man, the last of the apostles, is someone with whom we can identify because he did not know the Lord during his time here on earth. But once he experienced his marvelous presence through the miracle of grace, he was forever changed. When the time of our departure is at hand, may we too be able to stand before the judgment seat of the Lord, eager and ready because we have indeed competed well, finished the race and kept the faith.
|
|
