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     We do not know much about Paul’s personal life, but it seems that he must have liked sports. He uses sports references in many of his writings, including First Corinthians 9:24-27. He writes: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So, run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it in order to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one.Well, I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating at air; but I pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should become disqualified.”

     All who possess the gift of faith are athletes for Christ. The Holy Spirit is their coach. He helps them to go a little farther and dig a little deeper. Just as athletes discipline their bodies to run the race, so Christians must discipline their bodies and souls so that they will never lose sight of their true goal in life: heaven.

     The athletes who have already successfully run the race are the saints. By our devotion to them, they give us training tips so that God can get a little more out of us. The saints also encourage us along the route of the race. Jesus Christ has given us his Word and his Body and Blood as the proper food to put our bodies and souls in top spiritual shape.

     St. Paul is our motivator when we become tired and want to drop out. He knows what it takes because he has already run the race. He knows that we need the Holy Spirit. Christians need the spiritual discipline of prayer, the sacraments and generous service to others. Christians also need the physycal discipline of turning away from sin and living a life of virtue.

    When athletes win today, they always tell people they are going to Disneyland. As we run for the imperishable crown of holiness, we know if we win that our goal is much higher: we are going to heaven.

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     St. Paul teaches that the highest and greatest action of a person is to love. Fame, wealth and power all fade away, but love remains in the end. We will ultimately be judged on how well we love and how much we loved God and our neighbor and nothing else, because this judgment contains everything. First Corinthians 13 is one of the most famous passages from St. Paul. It is his great hymn to love. He writes: “Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things. Love never fails.” (1Cor 13:4-8a)

     Paul uses these words to express what he calls the “still more excellent way.” We often hear this reading at weddings. Do we ever stop to realize how hard it is to love in this way? How many times are we impatient with our spouse or want our own way? How often do we resent the good things that happen to other people? How often do people want to bail out of committments at the first sign of difficulty? If we examine our lives, it is a lot more dificult to live love than it is to speak about it. If this is the “still more excellent way”  and it is shown to us by Christ, then we know it is going to entail suffering. Love means sacrifice. Love means the cross!

     Paul admits that our love for God and one another is imperfect and frail. Love requires on the job training. Love requires making a selfless gift to God every day. The love Paul writes about is attainable for all of us. It is seen in the Saints and in the people we often do not even bother to notice. May Christ teach us a little bit more about love every day so that the ideal given to us from the heart of St. Paul will become for us a reality.

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, pray for us!

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     As a leader of the Churches that he established, Paul faced some of the same problems we face today. There were moral problems, administrative problems, and even liturgical problems. The First Letter to the Corinthians chapter 11 deals with a liturgical crisis Paul faced. He was not pleased with the way that the Corinthians were celebrating the Lord’s Supper. The great action of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, which is to bring about unity in the Church, is in fact bringing about divisions among the rich and poor.

     Paul writes to them in no uncertain terms: “When you meet together, it is not the Lord’s Supper that you are celebrating. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal and one is hungry while another is drunk. What! You do not have houses to drink in? Or do you despise the Church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No. I will not.”

     He continues by warning the Corinthians that “whoever eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the Body and Blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.” Paul’s central concern is that people are coming for selfish reasons and they are not prepared to celebrate properly. They are not aware that their selfishness destroys the Church. Paul’s concern is our concern.

     When we come to Mass, we need to be mentally and spiritually prepared and be free of mortal sin. We are about to take part in the most sacred action of the Church and receive the fruits of that action, the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Let us prepare our bodies by the fast and our souls by prayer. In that way, we will not bring judgment on ourselves, but receive the grace of Jesus Christ.

     The words of St. Paul carry a certain grace because the power that is present in them is the Spirit of Jesus Christ himself. St. Augustine realized the power of Paul’s words in his own conversion to Christianity. In his Confessions, Augustine wrote tht he heard a vioce that said “Take and Read,” and when he took up a New Testament, he opened it to the Letter to the Romans where St. Paul wrote: “Let us conduct ourselves becomingly as in the day, not in reveling and in drunkeness, not in debauchery or licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provisions for the flesh.” (Romans 13:13-14) These words changed Augustine’s life forever. He discovered that the ultimate pleasure for of human life is not the physical, but Jesus Christ himself. Jesus satisfies our every desire and orients our life not only for our own good, but for the good of others as well.

     Like St. Paul and Augustine, we live in a world that is full of material and bodilt pleasures. Paul and Augustine realized that misuse of these things do not ultimately make us happy, they make us hollow. May the Word of God present in St. Paul change our hearts like it changed the heart of St. Augustine. Put on Christ. Clothe youself with God’s mercy, love and compassion and you will not be empty, but will overflow with a peace that the world cannot give. This is what the heart of Paul teaches us.

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     How does Paul see himself? We know that he was a preacher and a teacher, but that does not answer how he sees himself. Galatians 2:20 gives us a clear answer: “I have been crucified with Christ: It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.” Does Paul mean to say that he is possessed by Christ? I don’t think so. By an act of faith, Pul has made himself a servant of Jesus Christ. In that act of faith, Paul welcomes the Spirit of Christ  into his soul and the Spirit shapes in his heart the very being of Christ. Paul desires to live as Christ lived, pouring out his heart and soul in preaching the Gospel so that the world may know the life and light of Christ.

     He empties himself of his own hopes and dreams so that  the real hopes and dreams that God has for him can be brought to fulfillment. Paul is not like a robot mindlessly taking orders from Christ. By his own free will, Paul chooses to allow the Word of God through the power of the Holy Spirit to shape his own life so that through Paul’s actions, Christ acts; through Paul’s preaching, Christ preaches; Paul’s sufferings are Christ’s sufferings. He knows that Jesus Chrst is the primary minister, preacher and priest of the faith  and by his love and service of Christ, he becomes truly free.

     Paul asks the believers around him to follow his example. If Christ lives in our heart, we may suffer, but not alone. When we speak, Christ’s words give life. When we love, we will discover that our love is purer and stronger than if it came from us alone, becuase it truly comes from the Sacred Heart of Christ.

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     G.K. Chesterton wrote that the problem with Christians is that they look so unredeemed. He expected Christians to be a joyful people. So does St. Paul. In the midst of the ups and downs of his missionary journeys, he tells the Philippians :”Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice. Let all men know your forebearance. The Lord is at hand. Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplications with thanksgiving let our request be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:4-7)

     Today when we look at politics, the economy and the culture, we don’t find much to rejoice about. Paul’s response is that our lack of joy is the result of looking at things without the presence of Christ. God is not going to lower gas prices or fix the economy, but he constantly reminds us that we are not alone. As brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, we have hope in this life and the next. As a Church, we have the responsibility to help everyone on their journey of faith. As Paul says, “The Lord is at hand.” When we were children we felt secure by the presence of our parents. As adults, we find a certain security in our friends or our spouse. As Christians, we are companions of Christ. By our prayers of praise and thanksgiving and petition to God, we know we have help nearby. Rejoice! Now matter how low you feel or how many burdens you carry, you are not alone. The Lord is near! This is what the heart of St. Paul tells us.

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     Where do we get out strength? If you asked Popeye the Sailor, he would tell you it is from eating Spinach. If you were to ask an Olympic athlete, he or she would tell you it is from eating their Wheaties. If you were to ask St. Paul, he would say that his strength comes from Jesus Christ. In the Second Letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes: “The Lord said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ I will all the more gladly boast of my weakness, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities, for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

     Paul presents his weaknesses and limitations as opportunites for God to do great things through him. He never takes all the credit for success. He realizes that success comes from the Lord and that the Lord is successful even in spite of Paul’s best efforts. Paul gives us an important lesson in life. Material success is a passing reality. What one needs to focus on is spiritual strength. If we are spiritually strong, then there is nothing that can ultimately destroy us.

     Spiritual strength requires humility. We have to know our sins and weaknesses. It is only then that we can grow with God. God takes our weaknesses, fears and uncertainties and gives us the opportunity to turn them over to him, so that our weaknesses become our strengths. Our spiritual “Spinach” or “Wheaties” are found in the examples of the Saints, prayer, the reception of the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist. When we do great things, give God praise and thanks, for we have accomplished them with his grace. That is what the Heart of St. Paul teaches us.

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     In many of his writings, Paul makes it clear that he is not creating new teachings or doctrine, but rather is passing on what he has first received from Christ. This is clear in 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 when he writes: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I have also received, that Jesus Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas and the twelve.”

     Tradition is very important for Paul. It is clear that he wants his teaching to be in union with that of the Apostles, so in Galatians 1:19, he writes that he visited with Peter and James, presumaby to make sure that his teaching is consistent with theirs.

     Paul heard that in Corinth, many believers were denying or questioning the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Paul addresses this in Chapter 15 of First Corinthians when he writes that “If the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, then your faith is futile  and you are still in your sin. those who have fallen alseep in Christ have perished. If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are the most to be pitied of all men.”

     The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is not something Paul made up. He directly experienced it. Christ’s death and resurrection are at the center of the faith and without them, there would be no faith at all. Paul is humble enough to realize that the faith is not his own personal possession. It is what unites him to Christ and to the entire Church.

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     The American Chesterton Society publishes a bi-monthly magazine on everything Chesterton. In a section called “the Zen of Sarcasm,” the following remarks were made which are definitely Chestertonian humor:

Do not walk behind me for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either. Just leave me alone.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and a leaky tire.

It is always darkest before the dawn. So if you are going to steal your neighbor’s newspaper, that’s the time to do it.

Don’t be irreplaceable. If you can’t be replaced, then you can’t be promoted.

Always remember you are unique. Just like everyone else.

Never test the depth of water with both feet.

Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away and you have their shoes.

If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is probably not for you.

Give a man a fish and eat will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.

American Chesterton society 4117 Pebblebrook Circle, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55437

     St. Paul was known for his great courage, zeal and boldness for  spreading the Gospel. He was also known for having a bit of a temper as well. Even Saints and Apostles have bad days and Maalox moments! Paul had some particularly bad days with the Churches of Galatia and Corinth, and his letters prove that out. He does not hesitate to show anger in his letters when his flock is in spiritual danger.

     In chapter three of the Letter to the Galatians, he writes: “O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Before whose eyes was Jesus publicly portrayed as publicly crucified? Let me ask you, did you receive the Holy Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing it with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun with the Spirit, are you ending with the flesh?” (Gal 3:1-3)

     The people of Galatia were being tempted to turn away from Christ and back the Jewish Law and it was succeeding. Paul was beside himself that the Galatians were rejecting the Christ he preached to them. He sees the seriousness of this. They do not. It is a dangerous thing to move away from Jesus once you have accepted the faith. To move away from Jesus or desire something other than him is to turn away from salvation.

     Paul’s anger is not something malicious, but rather like that of a parent who sees their child walking out into traffic after he had been warned not to do so. When ideas or teachings are proposed that reject or diminish the Catholic faith, we have to be ready to admonish, not to punish, but to correct. The actions of the Galatians produced some harsh words from Paul and possibly some harsh feelings from the Galatians. His goal is to get them to wake up and see what they would be abandoning their salvation if they abandoned Christ.