During celebration, let St. Paul help you know Jesus

I hope you won't mind if I ask you to take a brief mid-summer quiz this week. It only has four questions.

1. Name a first century rabbi that had earned his living as a maker of tent cloth, who eventually became a Christian writer.

2. Who is the Christian saint who said: "May I never boast of anything but the cross of Jesus Christ"?

3. Can you name the early Christian missionary who was born a Roman citizen in Tarsus in Cílicia and was buried outside of Rome after being martyred during the reign of Nero?

4. Who told the Corinthian Christians: "You are the body of Christ. Every one of you is a member of it"?

As you may have figured out by now, if you gave the correct answer to any of these questions, then you found the correct answer to all of them: St. Paul the Apostle. The reason that I bring St. Paul to your attention now is that Pope Benedict XVI is inviting all of us to observe the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of Paul with a year-long celebration. Beginning this weekend, with the Solemnity of Ss. Peter and Paul on June 29, and continuing through that date in 2009, the whole church will mark a Pauline Jubilee. The pope hopes we will become better acquainted with the life and writings of St. Paul, who is one of the most important sources of Christian understanding and who gave witness to that understanding by the way he lived and died.

Since about one quarter of the writings of the New Testament is attributed to St. Paul, one of the best ways to become more aware of his contribution to the church is to read what he has left to us. As you know, the writings of St. Paul are in the form of letters, or epistles, that he wrote to a number of local Christian communities. Sometimes he wrote to local churches where he had first preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In some cases, he wrote to those whom he had not yet met face to face. Always he wrote from his deep personal relationship with the risen Christ, to challenge Christians to live in the power of the Lord's resurrection in the particular circumstances of their own time and place.

Because St. Paul set out to communicate with ordinary Christians living in a variety of places, his letters are still very accessible today to all of us. While many things have changed in 2,000 years, so much remains the same. The risen Jesus still calls us to new life in him. The nature of the call and the manner of response possible for us are made clear by St. Paul in a way that is both down to earth and filled with the hope of heaven. From the moment of his encounter with the risen Lord on the road to Damascus, St. Paul was determined to know Jesus more personally and to introduce as many people as he could to a personal relationship with Christ. Paul can still help you and me to both know the Lord and proclaim him to others.

Since I began with a quiz, you might wonder whether there will be homework assigned. I do have a suggestion for something you can do at home to make this Pauline Jubilee year more fruitful. Read the epistles of St. Paul. Think of these inspired Scriptures as gifts rather than tasks. While sections of these epistles are often proclaimed at Mass, it is fine to read them reflectively, at your leisure, on the back porch this summer. If you are looking for a place to begin, then I suggest you start with the epistle to the Philippians. It brims over with affection and encouragement offered to all who are brothers and sisters in Christ. I close with several lines from Chapter 4.

"Rejoice in the Lord always! I say it again: Rejoice! Everyone should see how unselfish you are. The Lord is near. Dismiss all anxiety from your minds. Present your needs to God in every form of prayer and in petitions full of gratitude. Then God's own peace, which is beyond all understanding, will stand guard over your hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 4:4-7)