Word to the Wise
Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - St. Paul of the Cross, C.P. (Founder of the Passionist Order)
[Ephesians 3:2-12 and Luke 12:39-48]When you read this you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to human beings in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy Apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same Body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel. Of this I became a minister by the gift of God's grace that was granted me in accord with the exercise of his power.
It often happens that we do not understand the full significance of an event that we know is having a great impact on our lives. The extended effects gradually unfold and it may take awhile for us to put them into a greater perspective - even a lifetime! It may be the birth of a child, a big decision, an illness - some big gain or loss! In the case of St. Paul, it was his conversion - his vision of Christ on the road to Damascus. It took him some years to realize the direction in which the Spirit was leading him. Eventually, through the consistent rejection he was experiencing from the Jewish community, he realized that his mission was to the Gentiles. This "insight" was a major turning point in the development of the Christian community in the geographic world known to the Church at the time. For a Pharisaic Jew who had studied with one of the great rabbinic teachers of the time (Gamaliel), the "insight" that the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth and NOT the Law of Moses is God's plan of salvation, and that this plan extended to all people and not just to Jews, was nothing short of a complete revolution. But the "revolution" took time to realize because Paul initially focused his efforts on the Jewish communities. The same insight eventually came to St. Peter in his vision at Joppa and visit to the house of Cornelius the centurion (Acts 10). The Letter to the Ephesians was written about 30 years after Jesus' death and resurrection and shows that Paul has now put his entire experience into a much broader and more universal perspective, seeing God's hand and plan in all that has happened. This kind of thinking is not something we would do every day. We may need to be in the right place with the right amount of time to examine our lives. A retreat is a good time for this. The occasion may be something like what happened to me yesterday (Oct 19) at the Catholic high school in my hometown. This year marks the 50th since my graduation from that school. They inducted me into their academic hall of fame. I celebrated Mass for the student body and a small ceremony followed involving a plaque that joins others on a particular wall at the school. It's a bit like being handed one piece from a large jigsaw puzzle that is not yet complete and asked to look at it again after it was put in place. I know where it went, but I'm not sure what it means for the whole puzzle! No doubt the Spirit will decide that and reveal it in good time. At least I have St. Paul to remind me to take time to get a perspective on my life and ministry. Perhaps we could all benefit from his example! AMEN
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