Jubilee year marks St. Paul’s birth By Bishop Joseph N. Latino
Pope Benedict XVI has declared June 28, 2008 – June 29, 2009 as the Year of St. Paul for the entire Roman Catholic Church. The jubilee year will symbolically mark the 2000th anniversary of the Apostle’s birth.
The Holy Father will open this year with a celebration of Evening Prayer on Saturday, June 28, at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. The scripture passage from Paul that will serve as the theme of the year comes from Galatians 2:20: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”
This passage reflects St. Paul’s great zeal for spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the entire world by letting go of himself and letting Christ live in him and in everything he did.
St. Paul was an ardent evangelizer. He brought his passion and zeal for faith from his Jewish life and after his conversion on the road to Damascus used that same zeal and passion in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentile community around the Mediterranean from Jerusalem to Rome. Wherever he went he preached Christ unceasingly.
I firmly believe a major reason Pope Benedict XVI declared this jubilee year was to make each one of us reassess how much our faith really means to us and then challenge us to be bold enough to share that faith with others. By our baptism in Christ we all received the universal call to holiness and the universal call to mission. The two go hand in hand and can be seen throughout the writings of St. Paul.
Read Philippians chapter four and see how St. Paul expresses the importance of Christian prayer, Christian living and Christian discipleship. He is exhorting this community to continue fulfilling their call to holiness and mission even if he is no longer with them.
St. Paul’s writings live on in our church today. I urge our Catholic community here in the Diocese of Jackson to reinvigorate itself with the passion and zeal of St. Paul. Let us make this year a time for recommitment to our baptismal calls to holiness and mission. We live in a state where the Catholic population is only about three percent. Let us use this year to learn more about our beautiful Catholic faith and share that faith with others.
During this year take time to study St. Paul’s letters and the Acts of the Apostles. Reflect on them and pray with them. Below I have listed a few resources to help you with this study and reflection. There are many more resources available. These are a good start.
It is my prayer this year will be a year of growth in holiness and mission for each individual Catholic and in turn for our diocesan church and the universal church.
A Prayer to the Apostle Paul
Glorious St. Paul,
Most zealous Apostle,
Martyr for the love of Christ,
Give us a deep faith,
A steadfast hope
A burning love for the Lord
So that we can proclaim with you
“It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”
Help us to become apostles
Serving the church with a pure heart
Witnesses to her truth and beauty
Amidst the darkness of our days.
With you we praise God our Father
“To him be the glory, in the Church and in Christ
Now and forever.” Amen.
(www.annopaolino.org)
Resources:
“Dei Verbum” – The Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Worship – www.vatican.va
“Saint Paul: Called to Conversion – A Seven Day Retreat” by Rev. Ronald Witherup. St. Anthony Messenger Press
“The New Jerome Bible Handbook” – The Liturgical Press
“Reading the Bible” by Timothy Carmody – Paulist Press
