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PAUL THE HUMAN APOSTLE, Ninth in a series
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Donald Senior, C.P., is President of Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, the largest Roman Catholic graduate school of ministry in the United States, where he is also a member of the faculty as Professor of New Testament. Born in Philadelphia in 1940, he is a member of the Passionist Congregation and was ordained a priest in 1967. He received his doctorate in New Testament studies from the University of Louvain in Belgium in 1972.
Fr. Senior is a frequent lecturer and speaker throughout the United States and abroad, and serves on numerous boards and commissions, including the Board of Directors of William H. Sadlier, Inc. He has published extensively on biblical topics, with numerous books and articles for both scholarly and popular audiences. In 2001, Pope John Paul II appointed him as a member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission and he was reappointed in 2006 by Pope Benedict XVI.
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PAUL THE HUMAN APOSTLE
We may think of Paul as a kind of colossus standing astride the early church, powerful, passionate, brilliant. He was all of this but he was also someone very aware of his weaknesses: prone to brood about personal injuries, embarrassed that he had once persecuted the followers of Jesus, and able to show flashes of anger and frustration. He was, in fact, a very human apostle.
Paul was a feared persecutor of the Church. When Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was stoned to death by an angry mob in Jerusalem, the young Paul stood by approving, watching their cloaks for them (Acts 7:58; 8:1). Filled with righteous zeal, Paul "tried to destroy the Church," breaking into the homes of Christians and dragging men and women off to prison (Acts 8:3). After his conversion Paul never forgot his excesses. When recounting the appearances of the Risen Christ to the first witnesses, Paul lists himself as one who deserved to be called the "least of the apostles" because "I persecuted the Church of God" (1 Corinthians 15:9).
Paul apparently had some chronic physical ailment that was a source of discouragement for him. In Paul's time, physical disability was often viewed as a curse by God and particularly unbecoming in someone who claimed to be a religious leader. Because of his comment in Galatians 4:15 ("if possible you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me"), some think that Paul had a very visible malady of the eyes. Paul plays back the negative comments of some of his Corinthian converts: "His letters are severe and forceful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible" (2 Corinthians 10:10). This difficult physical condition is probably what Paul refers to as a "thorn in his flesh" from which he begged God to free him (2 Corinthians 12:7-8).
It is also clear that Paul could be greatly discouraged by the mixed results of his ministry. These long laments about the hardships he had to endure appear especially in Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, among the most autobiographical of his writings. When compared unfavorably to other Jewish Christian missionaries, Paul unloads with a list of his sufferings: "Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? (I am talking like an insane person now.) I am still more, with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, far worse beatings, and numerous brushes with death." Paul goes on to list a catalogue of woes: beatings, shipwreck, floods, bandits, sleepless nights, arduous journeys, hunger, thirst, cold, and on and on (read this famous passage in 2 Corinthians 11:21-33).
One of Paul's greatest discouragements was his deep sadness that his fellow Jews had not embraced Christ to the extent Paul had anticipated: "I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie; my conscience joins with the holy Spirit in bearing me witness that I have great sorrow and constant anguish in my heart" (Romans 9:1-2).
What is truly remarkable about this dimension of Paul's character is that he accepted his inherent weaknesses and saw them as part of the very gospel that he preached. Because Paul was weak, the power of God could all the more shine through him. This is the point of one of his most beautiful passages: "we hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh" (2 Corinthians. 4:7-16).
Paul accepted his limitations by uniting himself with the crucified Christ who also experienced weakness and death but who was transformed into new life by the power of God. Paul understood his struggles as an embodiment of the very gospel he preached: Christ is with us in our weakness and sufferings and will lead us to the fullness of life with God. To this end Paul vowed: "When I came to you, brothers and sisters, proclaiming the mystery of God, I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified." (1 Corinthians 2:1-2).
WAYS TO IMPLEMENT
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AT HOME
Discussion Point: Everyone, no matter how accomplished or talented, experiences weakness: psychological, physical, or spiritual. Paul's forthright discussion of his frailty in the light of his faith in Jesus Crucified is a beautiful dimension of his writings and a powerful legacy for us. How do I deal with my limitations? How can my limits be a source of grace for me and hope for others?
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