Jubilee Year Dedicated to St. Paul

Today I would like to have you think about St. Paul. Why?

Because that is what Pope Benedict is asking the entire church to do this year. Let me quote a news story:

ROME (Catholic News Service) -- Pope Benedict XVI announced a special jubilee year dedicated to St. Paul, saying the church needs modern Christians who will imitate the apostle's missionary energy and spirit of sacrifice. The pope said the Pauline year will run from June 28, 2008, to June 29, 2009, to mark the approximately 2,000th anniversary of the saint's birth.

He made the announcement while presiding over a vespers service at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. Beneath the basilica's main altar, Vatican experts in recent years have unearthed what they say is evidence that a roughly cut marble sarcophagus was indeed the tomb of St. Paul, who was believed martyred nearby. Pope Benedict went even further, saying in his sermon that the sarcophagus "according to the common opinion of the experts and unopposed tradition holds the remains of the apostle Paul."

In his sermon, the pope said St. Paul's success as an evangelizer was not credited to skills as a speaker or to a "refined strategy" of missionary argumentation. His achievements had more to do with his total dedication to Christ, despite problems and persecutions, he said.

The pope also noted that, according to a long-standing tradition, Sts. Peter and Paul met near the basilica before they were martyred, and they hugged and blessed each other. They were very different figures, with different roles in the church, and there were sometimes tensions between them, the pope said, but together they helped build the church and showed the world a new way of being brothers.

It has been said that St. Paul is second only to Christ in influence in Christianity. He was a great missionary, church planter, and evangelizer. He traveled 10,000 miles in the ancient world proclaiming the Good News. Half the New Testament was written by st. Paul. His thorough knowledge of the Hebrew scriptures and of Greek philosophy allowed him to explain the salvation won by Christ to the Gentile world. Years later at the time of the Reformation, st. Paul became a divisive figure. How well do you know this towering figure in Christianity?

Some ways to celebrate this jubilee year marking the 2000th anniversary of this great apostle's birth are:

• Read again the 13 letters in the New Testament attributed to St. Paul. Many say that Paul's letters are difficult to understand (even St. Peter said that, see 2 Peter 3: 16). A commentary is a good resource to help us understand what the Bible passage means. A very good one volume commentary is The Collegeville Bible Commentary. I find William Barclay's Daily Study Bible series to be filled with interesting insights.

• This year beginning on Jan. 24th I will use my weekly Pastor's Talks on Thursdays from 6:30 PM to 7:30 in the south quiet room at church to go through all of Paul's letters. (These are often posted to the web page for you to hear if you can not attend)

• We are having two movie matinees featuring St. Paul so that we can get to know better this key figure in Christianity. The first, In the Footprints of God" is a documentary about St. Paul.  The second is a feature film entitled "Peter and Paul"starring Anthony Hopkins.  Go to www.saintwilliams.org/movies to learn more.

• We'll let you know if any other activities are scheduled in the area.