Saint Paul - From Killer of Christians to the Apostle of The Gentiles
St. Paul
- He was, "a young man" at the stoning of the first Christian martyr, Stephen (in which he participated)
- He was, "an old man" when writing to Philemon, about the year 63 CE...
And he died around the year 66 CE, so he had to have been born between 5 BC and 5 CE.
To complete his schooling, St. Paul was sent to Jerusalem, where he sat at the feet of the learned Gamaliel and was educated in the strict observance of the ancestral Law. Here he also acquired a good knowledge of exegesis* and was trained in the practice of disputation.
Most importantly, he was a convinced and zealous Pharisee.
He returned to Tarsus just before the public life of Christ opened in Palestine.
* Exegesis is critical explanation or interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Biblical works.
Some time after the death of Our Lord, St. Paul returned to Palestine.
There, his profound religious convictions developed in him a fanatic zeal against the infant Church. He took part in the stoning of the first martyr, St. Stephen, and in the fierce persecution of the Christians that followed.
Why did he hate the Christians so much? Weren't they just mistaken Jews?
No!
First off, they were converted, Greek speaking, "Hellenist" Jews. These were Jews who had immigrated back from Greece, to resettle in the area. These Hellenist Jews were not devoted to the Temple Laws like the Pharisees, and were seen to have an anti-Temple attitude. This angered the blue-blood Hebrew Jews with their Temple cult.
Then, they flaunted the Laws of God once converted to Christ.
They ate the wrong foods on the sabbath, for example. They didn't follow the dress code of the Law, or the ritual cleansing rules - really bad stuff to a devout Pharisee.
And their leader, this Jesus guy, he healed men on the Sabbath and worked all kinds of miracles that no one had any business doing... and claiming he did it in the name of God.
But worst of all, He knew ALL the teachings of Gods own Law, yet had the audacity to claim He was God Himself, the Son of God made Man on earth - a horrific blasphemy if ever there was one.
So Saul was only too happy to rid the territory of these violators.
Paul/Saul on the Road to Damascus
As he was nearing Damascus, about noon, a light from heaven suddenly blazed round him. The Ascended Jesus, with His glorified body, appeared to him from Heaven and addressed him, turning him away from his apparently successful career as a Christian murderer.
According to the account in the Acts of the Apostles, "He (Saul) fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?' He replied, 'Who are you, Lord?' The reply came, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting'."
In Acts 9:1–22, he was reportedly blinded for three days and had to be led into Damascus by the hand. During these three days, Saul took no food or water and spent his time in prayer to God.
When Ananias of Damascus arrived, he laid his hands on him and said: "Brother Saul, the Lord, [even] Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost."
His sight was restored, he got up and was baptized. This story occurs only in Acts, not in the Pauline epistles.
An immediate transformation was wrought in the soul of St. Paul. He was suddenly converted to the Christian Faith, changed his name from Saul to Paul, and began travelling and preaching the Faith.
According to Acts:
"And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, 'He is the Son of God.' And all who heard him were amazed and said, 'Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?' But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ."
— Acts 9:20–22[
After three trips around the Christian world, into Arabia, Southern Europe and throughout the Eastern Mediterranean, Paul was finally arrested as a Christian leader and spent 2 years in Rome under house arrest.
It is from his imprisonment here that the bulk of his epistles were written.
Sculptural rendering of St. Paul
Jerome interpreted the Second Epistle to Timothy to indicate that 'Paul was dismissed by Nero' 'that the gospel of Christ might be preached also in the West'; but 'in the fourteenth year of Nero'... 'on the same day with Peter, [Paul] was beheaded at Rome for Christ's sake and was buried in the Ostian way, the thirty-seventh year after our Lord's passion'.
In 2002, an 8-foot (2.4 m)-long marble sarcophagus, inscribed with the words "PAULO APOSTOLO MART", which translates as "Paul apostle martyr", was discovered during excavations around the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls on the Via Ostiensis.
After much archival research, Vatican archaeologists declared this to be the tomb of Paul the Apostle in 2005. In June 2009, Pope Benedict XVI announced excavation results on the tomb.
The sarcophagus was not opened but was examined by a probe, which revealed pieces of incense, purple and blue linen, and small bone fragments. The bone was radiocarbon dated to the 1st century. According to the Vatican, these findings support the conclusion that the tomb is Paul's.
— Excerpted from Lives of the Saints, and other research sources
Reflection
Originally,
the feast of St. Paul did not commemorate the apostle's conversion, but rather, the translation of his relics. Gradually, however, the original purpose was forgotten,
and what had been a feast honoring the apostle's relics became the
commemoration of his conversion.
With
festal liturgy the Church commemorates Paul's conversion because of
its supreme importance to Christianity.
The conversion took
place about 3 years after our Lord's death and it was totally out of the blue, not of the apostle's
seeking – it was due wholly to divine intervention.
St. Paul
refers to it frequently in his epistles, always with the profoundest
emotion and gratitude. The Acts of the Apostles gives a detailed
account of the event, not once, but three times: 9:1-22; 22:3-21;
26:9-18.
Paul's
conversion, to repeat, was a most decisive moment in the development
of God's kingdom on earth.
- Thanks to his uncompromising
spirit, the Church shook off the bonds of Judaism and spread to the
Gentiles.
- It was Paul who brought the faith of Christ to Europe
and, yes, to Rome.
- Through him the Church became what it is by
nature—universal, catholic.
Accordingly, we are
indebted to him, and with deepest gratitude we celebrate
that memorable event when grace scored a total victory over nature
and human will. We should consider today's feast one in honor of, "Grace Triumphant."
Moreover, the apostle's will was not subverted in the exchange; rather, grace was WEDDED to his human will. As he himself said later: "God's grace in me has not been
fruitless" (1 For 15:10).
Our OWN Damascus Moment
AND, St.
Paul's soul-shaking experience on the road to Damascus has profound parallel in our life.
We've had our own conversion, if you recall - in baptism.
This is when Christ came to dwell within each of US. It was a day of pure grace,
without the least merit on our part, and our wills remain intact, as well.
And most likely, we were unaware of
the gift received.
Why? Because our baptism was probably performed when we were infants. From some viewpoints this is deemed regrettable - but I say, "No, it is actually fortunate."
Here's my reasoning.
In
the early Church, adult baptism was common and the impression
made was most profound. For the recipients, it means a real
conversio, a reversal of their former life.
Think,
for example, of St. Augustine.
Most of us, on the other hand, were likely baptized as babies. Subsequently, we find that in addition to our first baptismal conversion, we must undergo another.
And THAT is the best part!
Why? Because whether we were infant - or adult - baptised, we often become lukewarm as sinful Christians. Or we are very often Christians out of habit or routine — 'unconscious Christians,' you might say.
How many of you reading this remember and live, each day, your baptismal promises? Can you recite them? If it was baptism after infancy, was it just someone saying a bunch of words, and you getting wet... and today, well, it's just a memory?
Unless you are the rarest of persons who can recite those promises and takes them to heart, we can all use constant re-conversion in our life... re-conversion that is
earnestly, consciously, zealously Christian.
Thus, it becomes a joy to make the meaning of baptism constantly effective! Today's feast, then, should drive us to seek our own, "Damascus Moments," ways to dedicate ourselves continuously to our baptismal purpose. Our celebration should include
gratitude to God for that first conversion we may not remember, or only dimly so, and for all the times we return to Him that we DO remember.
And I
know of a very potent "Damascus Moment" in my life – THE HOLY
MASS.
Here, too, Christ meets me. Here, grace is piled on to the
grace of my first conversion - to perfect what was begun there. It also maintains in me the same unfailing consciousness of conversion that we
admire in St. Paul.
Twenty, thirty years later, Paul was still
moved to tears whenever he thought about that unforgettable
moment on the road to Damascus. He was a great man in whom the
memory of a momentous experience never faded.
Because, a single act of conversion is not enough... as he so clearly demonstrated.
Conversion must be lasting, and life-long, and every "Damascus Moment" at Mass helps make it so. Each Mass celebration offers us the chance of a conversio change in us, if we only reach out and take it.
We bring our human
wants and weaknesses to the altar, and in exchange, we receive divine
life and strength.
We bring human bread (at the Offertory) and receive
divine Bread (in the Holy Eucharist).
We go TO Mass, a Saul, but we come FROM Mass, a Paul!
— edited from The
Church's Year of Grace by Pius Parsch
Patronage: against hailstorms; against poisonous snakes; against snake bites; against snakes; Catholic Action; Cursillo movement; gentiles; lay people; Worshipful Company of Fruiterers; Worshipful Company of Upholders; authors; evangelists; hospital public relations; journalists; knights; missionary bishops; musicians; newspaper; editorial staff; public relations personnel; public relations work; publishers; reporters; rope braiders; rope makers; saddle makers; saddlers; tent makers; writers
Symbols
and Representation: Book
and sword; three fountains; two swords; scourge; serpent and a fire;
armour of God; twelve scrolls with names of his Epistles; phoenix;
palm tree; shield of faith; sword; book.
Often
portrayed as: Thin-faced
elderly man with a high forehead, receding hairline and long pointed
beard; man holding a sword and a book; man with 3 springs of water
nearby.
Highlights and Things to Do:
Visit this section on Catholic Culture prepared for the Year of St. Paul in 2008.
Read more on the Conversion of St. Paul:
Many artists depicted the conversion of St. Paul. One of the most popular paintings is by Caravaggio. There is also the fresco by Michelangelo that is very inspiring.
The tomb of St. Paul is located in Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome.
See some food ideas on Catholic Cuisine.
One of the traditions attached to this feast is found in rural England. Similar to the United States Groundhog Day tradition, weather predictions included fine days predicting good harvests, to clouds and mists foretelling pestilence and war in the coming months.
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