St. Paul via the Eyes of Pope Benedict

St. Paul via the Eyes of Pope Benedict
In pursuit of the truth – www.cinopsbegone.com – Thursday, May 21, 2009

St. Paul is a guiding lighthouse for all graduates of Colleges and High Schools:

(St. Paul, by Msgr. A. Baker – Lay Witness – May-June 2009) “Who was St. Paul? As a master teacher, Benedict does not just leave the question open and unanswered. He personally responds to it, and he invites the faithful to listen closely to St. Paul and learn from him as “our teacher, an Apostle and herald of Jesus Christ for us too.”

“He is an Apostle and herald of Jesus Christ for us too.” He is an Apostle who “shines like a star of the brightest magnitude in the Church’s history,” says the Pope. In coming to know Paul, the Church learns about what it means to be a true disciple of Christ. Thus, the goal of the Pauline Year (June 28, 2009 to June 28, 2009) is “to learn from St. Paul, to learn faith, to learn Christ and finally to learn the way of upright living.” Theme 1 – An Encounter with Christ:

“In his letter to the Galatians, St. Paul speaks in very personal terms about his faith in Christ, admitting that “I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). He did not think of Christ in merely historical terms, as though Christ were someone of the past. The Pope says that for Paul, “Jesus is alive now; he speaks to us now and lives for us.”

“Paul’s encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus, the road which was leading to the persecution of the Church, suddenly and dramatically changed his life. … the Pope says, “literally revolutionized his life. Christ becomes his raison d’etre and the profound motivation of all his apostolic work.”

“Paul’s encounter with Christ was an identity-changing event. It may have been the motivation for changing his name from Saul to Paul. It also meant a profound change in what Paul thought was most important in his life and even what a manifestation of his zealous faith…was. Saul of Tarsus, who attacked the first Christians, becomes Paul the Apostle, who evangelizes the Gentiles. The persecutor becomes the proclaimer….

“In reflecting on Paul’s meeting with Jesus, Pope Benedict comments that we must also reflect on the deep effect Jesus Christ can have “also on our own lives.” An encounter with Christ contains the transformative power of conversion not just for Paul, but also for each one of those who believe in the Lord. …

“Similar to St. Paul, an encounter with Christ changes us. The Holy Father explains: “What counts is to place Jesus Christ at the center of our lives, so that our identity is marked essentially by the encounter, by communion with Christ and with his Word. In his light every other value is recovered and purified from possible dross.”... Theme 2 – An Encounter with the Church

“The Pope points out, “one usually reaches Jesus by passing through the Church.” This was true for St. Paul, who initially encountered the Church by pursuing her destruction but then, upon meeting Christ on the road to Damascus. reverses course. …

“This Church is truly the Church of God, using typical Pauline terminology. The Pope remarks, “Paul shows that he knows well and makes us all understand that the Church is not his and is not ours: The Church is the body of Christ, it is a “Church of God.” … For Paul “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Theme 3 – An Encounter with the Holy Eucharist

“According to Pope Benedict, the unity of Head and Body for St. Paul has some very strong Eucharistic implications. In his famous exhortation on the Holy Eucharist… The bread which is broken, he writes, and the cup which is blessed are “a participation in the body of Christ” (l Cor. 10-16).”
George H. Kubeck