July 14: The Heart of St. Paul
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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