(First Century)
January 25 and June 29
While Jesus walked the dusty roads of Palestine, a young Jewish boy named Saul was growing up in a seaport city in Asia Minor called Tarsus. Many wealthy Jewish families lived in Tarsus.
Saul’s father was a Pharisee. This meant that he followed many strict religious rules. Saul had to live by those rules too.
The boy was intelligent and lively. At the age of five, he began his schooling with the study of the Bible. As soon as he was old enough, Saul also began to learn a trade, as was the custom at that time. His father taught him how to make tents.
“Come, O Lord, and don’t delay,” the boy often prayed as he worked. Like all Jewish children, he was waiting for the coming of the Messiah whom God had promised to send to his people. Saul didn’t know that the Messiah had already come. He was Jesus, God’s own Son. He was living in a town called Nazareth, where he learned the carpenter’s trade from his foster father. People were expecting the Messiah to be a mighty prince who would free Israel from the Roman armies and conquer the whole world. What a surprise Jesus would be to everyone!
While Jesus was still living a quiet, hidden life in Nazareth, twelve-year-old Saul set out with a camel caravan for the great city of Jerusalem. There, at the magnificent Temple, he studied to become a rabbi—a teacher of the Hebrew Law.
Years passed. Saul became a rabbi and returned home to Tarsus. Saul was in Tarsus when Jesus began his public ministry and revealed that he was the Messiah. He was in Tarsus when some of the Pharisees refused to recognize that this poor Man who spoke of a spiritual kingdom was really the leader sent by God to his people. Saul was in Tarsus when word came that the leaders in Jerusalem had killed Jesus by nailing him to a cross.
At some point, Saul returned to Jerusalem. There, one day, he joined a crowd of people who were determined to punish a man named Stephen. Stephen was a disciple of Jesus and had been teaching others about him. This angered Saul and some of his friends. They felt that Stephen had betrayed their religion and must be killed.
The crowd dragged Stephen outside the city. As the men hurled stone after stone at him, they piled their cloaks at Saul’s feet. Just before he died, Stephen fell to his knees and cried out, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them.” Saul didn’t understand how Stephen could forgive the men who were killing him. But he was still determined to stop these “Nazarenes.” From that day on, Saul became one of the fiercest and most violent persecutors of the followers of Jesus. He rushed from city to city capturing the Nazarenes and having them thrown into prison.
Saul was soon on his way across the desert to Damascus—a city that had become a new center for Jesus’ followers. After long days of travel, Saul and his companions saw Damascus before them. Saul felt a new burst of energy. Nobody will escape this time, he silently vowed. Suddenly, the very air about him seemed to explode with light, and an unknown power knocked him to the ground. Dazed and confused, Saul struggled to open his eyes. A voice rang out, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
“Sir,” he cried, “who are you?”
Terrified, Saul heard the reply: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”
Jesus! The one who had been crucified really was the Messiah, and was alive…just as his followers claimed! Not only that, but Jesus was identifying himself with the people Saul was persecuting. Saul felt sick. What a terrible mistake he had made!
“It’s hard for you to accept this,” came the voice again.
Yes, Saul thought, it’s very hard indeed. But now that he knew the truth, he had to swallow his pride and forget his plans. “Lord,” he asked, “what do you want me to do?”
Jesus told Saul to go into the city to the house of a man named Jude. Saul stumbled to his feet. His eyes were open, but he could see nothing. His startled companions, who had seen the brilliant light but not heard Jesus’ voice, had to lead him by the hand into Damascus.
A few days later, Jesus appeared in a dream to Ananias, one of the disciples who lived in Damascus. The Lord instructed him to go to the house of Jude, where he would find Saul praying. Ananias knew that Saul had been persecuting the disciples, and he was afraid. “Go,” Jesus insisted. “This man is the one I have chosen to make me known throughout the world. I’ll show him how much he will have to suffer for my name.”
When Ananias arrived at Jude’s house, he found Saul praying, just as Jesus had said. “Saul, my brother,” said Ananias, laying his hands on him, “the Lord Jesus has sent me to you so that you may see and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” When Saul heard Ananias’s voice and felt his touch, peace filled his heart and he was able to see again!
Then Ananias baptized Saul, making Saul a member of the same group he had been so violently persecuting. Now Saul promised to do everything he could to spread the Good News about Jesus.
Saul immediately began preaching in the synagogues of Damascus, proclaiming that Jesus is the Son of God. He kept this up for a long time until some people decided to kill him. But the followers of Jesus learned about the plot and warned Saul. Disguised as an Arab, Saul left Damascus and went out alone into the desert.
Saul stayed in the desert for many months. While he was there, Jesus instructed him through inspirations and revelations. Saul prayed and fasted. Finally he returned to Damascus and began to preach again. Again there were rumors that some men wanted to kill him. The gates were being watched, so this time his friends had to lower him over the city wall in a huge wicker basket!
Saul traveled to Jerusalem, but he had trouble there, too. Many of Jesus’ followers, who knew what a fierce enemy he had been, didn’t believe that Saul had really been converted. Even the apostles, who led the young Church under the guidance of Peter, wondered whether Saul could be trusted. A disciple named Barnabas finally came to the rescue. Barnabas believed that Saul was sincere, and he told the apostles so. Barnabas was able to convince them to accept Saul as a new apostle.
Saul spent fifteen days in Jerusalem. With Peter he walked the road that Jesus had followed to Calvary, prayed at Jesus’ tomb, and remembered the suffering he himself had caused Jesus.
“I persecuted him,” cried Saul.
“I denied him,” recalled Peter. Together they thanked God for the mercy and love he had shown both of them. Together they continued to preach about Jesus to the people living in Jerusalem. But many of the people still would not listen to Saul. One day, when Saul was praying in the Temple, Jesus appeared to him. “Don’t be discouraged,” the Lord told him. Hurry and leave this city. I’ll send you to the people of distant nations.”
Saul obeyed. He went home to Tarsus and began to tell friends and relatives about Jesus, while he waited to learn what to do next.
After a few years had gone by, Barnabas arrived in Tarsus, looking for Saul. “Come with me to Antioch, Saul,” he invited. “We need you there.”
So Saul eagerly set out with Barnabas. Antioch, in Syria, was the third largest city in the Roman Empire, and many of Jesus’ followers were already living there. In fact, Antioch was where members of the Church were called “Christians” for the first time.
Saul found that his days were busy and full as he preached the Gospel in Antioch. More and more people came to believe in Jesus.
Time passed. Once, while the disciples were praying, the Holy Spirit let them know that Barnabas and Saul were to be missionaries, bringing the Good News of Jesus to many different people and nations.
Saul and Barnabas took Mark, Barnabas’s young cousin, with them on their first journey. Their hearts pounded with excitement as they set sail for the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.
The trio had been preaching on the island for several days, and had baptized many of the people, when they received a summons to appear before Sergius Paulus, the Roman governor of Cyprus. The disciples felt honored to be called before the governor. They thought that he, too, wanted to learn about Jesus. But trouble was waiting for them at the governor’s home. Sergius Paulus had a crafty magician named Elymas living in his household. “Don’t listen to them, Paulus!” Elymas urged. “They’re speaking a lot of nonsense.”
“Son of the devil!” retorted Saul, feeling himself full of the power of the Holy Spirit. “As a punishment you will be blind for a while!” At that moment Elymas gasped and began groping about. He was blind!
Governor Paulus was amazed. Men with such power, he thought, must be representatives of the true God. “Saul, will you baptize me into your faith?” he asked. And so Sergius Paulus became a Christian.
It was after this that Saul (who was now called Paul) and his companions set off for Asia Minor. When they reached the coast, Mark returned home to Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas traveled on foot from city to city, establishing Christian communities. Because the Christian religion was not understood, Paul and Barnabas were persecuted almost everywhere and had to keep moving on.
In a city called Lystra, Paul and Barnabas met a crippled man, who listened to them intently. Paul looked at the man and knew that he had faith. “Get up,” said Paul, “and walk.” The man stood up, healed!
“It’s Hermes himself,” whispered a man in the crowd to a companion. “It’s Zeus and Hermes!” cried another. The crowd was in an uproar, convinced that Barnabas and Paul were two of their pagan gods. “Bring them to the temple!” they cried. “Cover them with flowers! Call the priests!”
When Paul and Barnabas realized what was happening, they began to protest, “We’re not gods, but human beings—just like you!” But then a new rumor started. The people began to shout, “They’ve tricked us! Stone them! Stone them!” Instead of being draped with flowers, Paul and Barnabas had to run for their lives. Stones whizzed through the air, pounding them on every side. Finally, Paul and Barnabas sank to the ground. Members of the angry mob dragged them outside the city, leaving them for dead.
Fortunately, Paul and Barnabas had made some friends in the city. When some of them heard what had happened, they rushed out to find the two missionaries. As Paul and Barnabas opened their eyes, they saw a circle of anxious and compassionate faces looking down on them.
The new Christians tenderly cared for the apostles, and Paul and Barnabas recovered enough to move on. The next day saw them limping away to the next city. They had to tell others the Good News of Jesus.
Four years later, after having preached in many cities and towns, the two friends returned to Antioch. They also went to Jerusalem, where they spent time with Peter, telling him of the many new Christian communities in Asia Minor. Peter happily sent Paul back to evangelize other parts of Asia Minor.
This time, Paul’s companion was Silas instead of Barnabas. The two men passed through many of the towns Paul had visited on his previous trip. At each stop, Paul encouraged the Christians. In Lystra, a young man named Timothy joined Paul and Silas.
One night, while the three men were in Troas, a city on the coast of Asia Minor, Paul had a vision. A man from Macedonia stood before him and begged, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” Though close to Asia Minor, Macedonia was part of a different continent—Europe. The next morning, Paul excitedly told Silas and Timothy what had happened. “God must want us in Macedonia,” Silas agreed. Timothy nodded. So the missionaries immediately made plans to sail for Europe.
In Philippi, the first European city they visited, a woman named Lydia was baptized. She opened her home to the three apostles, and many of the new Christians also gathered there to pray. In Philippi, a doctor named Luke also joined Paul, Silas, and Timothy. Luke would one day write down all he knew about Jesus and the early Christian communities. The books he wrote are what we know as the Gospel of St. Luke and the Acts of the Apostles.
But Paul and Silas soon found themselves in trouble again. When Paul freed a slave girl from an evil spirit, her owners became very upset. Now she could no longer tell people’s fortunes—which meant she could no longer earn money for them. The girl’s masters stirred up anger against Paul and Silas and had the city officials of Philippi arrest them. “Beat them with rods and throw them into jail!” came the order. That night, bruised and bleeding, and with their feet tied to a stake, Paul and Silas thanked Jesus for having made them worthy to suffer for his name. To the amazement of the other prisoners, they even began to sing!
God had given Paul such great powers to heal that sick people only touched his clothes or objects that belonged to him and they were cured!
Around midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing, a violent earthquake shook the prison. The cell doors flew open, and all the prisoners’ chains were pulled loose. When the jailer woke up and learned what had happened, he panicked. If the prisoners have escaped, I’m doomed! Better for me to take my life than to be killed, he reasoned. The jailer was ready to commit suicide with his own sword, when Paul’s voice echoed in the dark jail, “Don’t harm yourself! We’re all here!”
Calling for a torch, the jailer ran in and fell to his knees before Paul and Silas. “What must I do to be saved?” he asked.
“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you and your family will be saved,” Paul and Silas promised him. That night the jailer and his whole family were baptized.
Paul and his companions moved on to Thessalonica. But they had to leave when some men there stirred up the people against them. Paul went on to Athens and then to Corinth, where he waited for Timothy and Silas to join him.
After spending a year and a half in the busy port city of Corinth, Paul and his companions returned to Jerusalem.
But soon Paul was back in Asia, where he stopped in the city of Ephesus. He stayed there for almost three years, preaching and working miracles. God had given Paul such great powers to heal, that sick people only touched his clothes or objects that belonged to him and they were cured!
Once, the Christians of Ephesus brought Paul all the books they could find that taught magic or superstitious practices. He made a huge pile and burned them in the city square. The bright bonfire reminded the people of the light of the new faith in Jesus that Paul had brought them.
Soon Paul’s restless spirit urged him to search for other people to bring to Christ. He traveled again to Macedonia and Greece. Then he returned to Troas in Asia. There an amazing thing happened.
One evening, Paul was celebrating Holy Mass in an upper room. The room was crowded with Christians eager to take part in the Eucharistic Celebration and to hear Paul speak. During the sermon, some of the boys sat on the windowsills. As Paul spoke on and on about the love of Jesus, one of the boys became sleepy. His head began to sag. He nodded, caught himself, then drooped again…and all of a sudden it was too late! He was falling!
“Eutychus!” screamed one of his companions. The people rushed wildly down the stairs and out into the street. “Paul,” a terrified voice cried, “Eutychus is dead!”
Paul had raced down the stairs behind them. He shouldered his way through the crowd and knelt beside the lifeless form. The boy had fallen three stories onto the hard stones of the street. What could save him? The power of God!
Paul quickly threw his own body onto the boy’s, praying silently. Then, wrapping his arms around the boy, he said, “Don’t be afraid. He’s alive!”
Sure enough, Eutychus was moving! His eyes opened. He blinked and smiled up at Paul. “Praised be Jesus Christ,” murmured one of the onlookers. Exclamations of joy ran through the crowd. With their hearts full of love and thanks, the Christians returned to Mass.
Paul wanted to go to Jerusalem again. On the way, he stopped in Miletus. Many of his friends from Ephesus met him there. Perhaps I’ll never see them again, Paul thought. “Be real followers of Jesus,” he urged them. They cried for sorrow as he prepared to board a ship for Jerusalem. Paul himself had to wipe tears from his eyes.
The last part of Paul’s journey was over land. On the way, he and his companions met an old prophet named Agabus, who was enlightened by the Holy Spirit. Agabus came up, took Paul’s belt, and tied his own hands and feet together with it. “The man who owns this belt will be bound just like this in Jerusalem,” he said. There was no doubt that he was talking about Paul!
“Turn back, Paul, before it’s too late,” his friends urged him. “You’re risking your life to go to Jerusalem now!”
“Why are you crying and breaking my heart?” Paul asked with pain in his voice. “I’m ready to be chained and even killed in Jerusalem. It will be for the honor and glory of Jesus, my Lord.”
Tense and expectant, Paul and his companions finally reached Jerusalem. They found the place where the Christians met for prayer, and were greeted by James, the cousin of Jesus. James was in charge of the Jerusalem church. Peter had moved on sometime before.
Soon a false story began circulating among the people in Jerusalem. Rumor had it that Paul had brought non-Jews into the Temple. This was forbidden, and an angry mob pounced on Paul. They would have killed him if Roman soldiers hadn’t stepped in. Thinking that Paul must be a criminal to have started such a riot, an officer barked to his soldiers, “Arrest this man! Bind him in chains, and take him to the prison.”
Some men were still determined to kill Paul. Paul’s young nephew overheard them plotting and told the Roman commander. “Don’t tell anyone that you gave me this information,” the officer instructed the boy. “I’ll keep Paul safe.”
The commander immediately arranged for a group of armed soldiers to bring Paul to the palace of Felix, the governor, in the city of Caesarea. Paul would be safe there until his trial. Paul and his guards left Jerusalem that very night.
For two years, Paul remained in the dungeon of Felix’s palace. It was not until a new governor, Festus, took office that the apostle was brought forward and questioned. Festus didn’t find Paul guilty of anything, but decided to keep him in prison to please some of the people.
“I appeal to Caesar,” Paul declared at last. Such an appeal was the right of every Roman citizen, and Paul had inherited Roman citizenship from his father. When a man appealed to Caesar, he had to go to Rome for his trial.
Two of Paul’s friends, Luke and Aristarchus, started out for Rome with him. Of course, Paul was still a prisoner, so a Roman soldier was sent along as a guard. The soldier, Julius, was a kind and considerate man who grew to admire and respect Paul during the long and dangerous sea voyage.
After many adventures, including a shipwreck on the island of Malta, Paul, Luke, Aristarchus, and Julius walked the last few miles to Rome. Christians living near Rome came out to greet Paul and encourage him along the way.
In Rome, while Paul was waiting for his trial, he met often with the Christians. Even though he was under arrest, he was allowed to live in a rented room and have visitors. From that room, Paul wrote many letters to his friends in the communities of Greece, Macedonia, and Asia Minor. At last his trial came to court. He was found innocent of any major crime and set free!
Paul continued his travels and preaching. At one point, he met Peter in Corinth. The two apostles decided to return to Rome to help and comfort their fellow Christians, who were undergoing a terrible persecution. The cruel and insane Emperor Nero had set Rome on fire—and blamed it on the Christians!
Peter and Paul were not in Rome long when they, too, were arrested and flung into prison. Both apostles were sentenced to death.
Paul was led outside the city walls, whipped, and blindfolded. He was told to rest his head on a low pillar. The executioner raised his gleaming sword and brought it down with all his strength. The apostle’s head fell to the ground. But his soul flew to God.
From heaven, St. Peter and St. Paul have watched over the Church down through the centuries. Their spirit lives on in the Church even today. Their letters to various Christian communities are part of the New Testament and are often included in our readings at Mass.
The Church celebrates the Conversion of St. Paul on January 25, and the Solemnity of Peter and Paul on June 29.
St. Paul’s letters speak to us today, just as they spoke to the people to whom they were first written. In reading and studying them, we can become filled with faith and love for the Lord Jesus just as Paul was. We can pray to St. Paul for the strength to live and spread our faith in Jesus as he did.