On reading the letters of St. Paul

n The past few weeks I have been re-reading the letters of St. Paul slowly and carefully with the view of trying to understand him better than I have in the past. I have always had the highest respect for Paul as a towering intellect, but also I felt a bit uncomfortable reading his letters because I had not been able to understand clearly what he was saying. It would not be much off the mark to say that I was a bit fearful of him.

As a seminarian and young priest I did not spend much time with Paul, mainly because he seemed too deep for me. For years I nursed the thought that eventually I would read Ferdinand Prat's two volumes on the theology of St. Paul and so get a handle on what he was talking about. But that never happened.

I wonder how many priests out there have had a similar experience. Over the years, while preparing hundreds of homilies, I usually did not give much attention to the Second Reading on Sunday, which often came from one of Paul's letters; it seemed easier and more natural to stick to the Gospel reading for the day, with a casual reference perhaps to some point in the passage from St. Paul.

It has been comforting to know that I am in good company, for even St. Peter, the prince of the Apostles, found the writings of Paul difficult. In his Second Letter Peter says that the letters of Paul "contain some obscure passages" (3:16) which some have misinterpreted to their own ruin.

Now that I am studying Paul in a leisurely way in my later years, I think I am getting at the heart of his message. No longer am I afraid of him; in fact, my admiration for Paul increases with the study of each letter. In my opinion, St. Paul is perhaps the greatest writer and thinker the world has ever seen, with the possible exception of St. John the Evangelist.

When Christ Our Lord blinded Paul on the road to Damascus with the brilliance of his glory, he converted him totally to his cause and imparted to him a unique divine wisdom. It seems to me that the heart and soul of Paul's Gospel, the key to it, if you will, is the central position of Jesus Christ in all of creation. For Paul, Christ has the primacy in all things-he is the firstborn of all creatures; as God Almighty he is the Lord of the universe; he is the redeemer of the whole world-the One who has defeated Satan, sin and death. So everything that exists is from Christ and for him. He is the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. He is the "mystery" now revealed to the Gentiles.

Salvation is readily available for every human being, Jew or Gentile, who believes in Jesus and is baptized into his Church. Faith and baptism are the causes of sanctifying grace being poured into the soul; this brings about a real change so that the Christian is now a "new creature" who is born of God. He becomes a child of God and heir of heaven.

St. Paul's view of the Church is staggering. All the baptized are united to Christ through grace and thus are members of his one Body of which he is the Head. We live now between the "already" of the resurrection and the "not yet" of his Second Coming at the end of the world. This is the time of the Church, the time of redemption in which we work out our salvation, with Paul, in fear and trembling.

My study of St. Paul has been rewarding. He no longer intimidates me; in fact, he has become a friend and I enjoy being in his company. From now on I will dedicate more time in my homilies to an explanation of St. Paul and his profound insight into the Mystery of Christ.

Kenneth Baker, S.J., Editor