Bible Alive was truly honoured and privileged in this holy year to be able to publish in a new collaboration with the Vatican Publishing House a special edition of thoughts and insight by Pope Benedict XVI on St Paul, titled simply: Thoughts on St Paul.

This, our first title, by way of collaboration with the Vatican, carried both the responsibility and the privilege to be recognized as an official Publisher to the Holy See.  
So we have a lot to thank St Paul for and because of our devotion to the scripture, have always had a special and profound sense of gratitude to him – he is truly our hero of faith.
The holy year dedicated to St Paul draws to a close on Sunday June 28 (the Feast of Ss Peter and Paul) and so in this June edition we wanted to take the opportunity to highlight those qualities which truly make St Paul such a hero of faith and invite our readers to pray, study and reflect further on his life, carrying the momentum forward from this year dedicated to him.  

St Paul was a Jew. He was steeped in Judaism and was, in many ways, prior to his conversion, one of its leading lights of his generation. Indeed, many scholars suggest that  he was one of the great intellectuals in world history. His intellectual grasp and understanding of the Hebrew faith identified him as someone who would become a leader within the Jewish community. He had a solid and firm grasp that Israel was God’s chosen and special people.  He was devoted to his faith in an extra-ordinary way, focused, dedicated and full of zeal for the faith of his fathers.  His conversion changed all this and he came in touch with the truth or revelation that Judaism did not come to an end but actually found its meaning and fulfilment in Christ. For him the message of Christ was kept hidden within Israel, for sure it was touched upon, definitely hinted at and most certainly pointed to but only through and in the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus did God’s plan and purpose reach its perfection and ultimate unveiling.
 
St Paul was clear however that his insight and grasp of the gospel was the fruit of revelation, a special, personal and unique insight into the mystery of Christ. God worked so powerfully and wonderfully in his life that he was able to take hold of Christ and the meaning of his death and resurrection in a way which meant that this mystery could be grasped and understood by all. St Paul was, if you like, a conduit of this revelation. Through his teaching and proclamation we are led into the mystery of Christ.  This is how he expressed this to the believers in Ephesus: ‘Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this then you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets.’ (Ephesians 3:2-5).   

The mystery hidden but now revealed was that God’s plan was that Jew and Gentile (every human person in fact, past, present and future) would come to know God and Christ and that the blessings and graces previously reserved for God’s chosen people were now available and accesible to everyone.  Again, St Paul, so wonderfully and eloquently expresses it so: ‘This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promises of Christ.’ (Ephesians 3:6).   What does this mean?  What are its implications? How does this revelation effect our lives?  For St Paul this really was the essence, the very heart of the ‘good news’ of the gospel. For him Jesus, through his death and resurrection, had opened up heaven to everyone,  in him, through him and with him, every human being could know the ‘unsearchable riches of Christ’ (Ephesians 3:8).  

For Paul, Jesus was the answer to the human dilemma – what is the meaning, the purpose of life? St Paul’s answer to this is contained in one word, one name, one person: Jesus.  No matter how many rise up to interpret or teach on St Paul, it is always St Paul himself who is so articulate and clear: ‘Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.’ (Ephesians 3:8-9).  

In Christ then the wisdom of God is fully and finally revealed – he is God’s perfect and final revelation, he is the meaning of life on earth, he is the reason for not just human existence but the creation of everything: the universe, the cosmos and beyond.   For St Paul then, the church carries the most onerous yet privileged responsibility because it was God’s intention that the wisdom of God revealed in Christ be proclaimed and taught both in this world and in the world to come: ‘His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Ephesians 3:10-11).
   
We can go through our lives very much with our heads down – focused on the here and now, the immediate, the tyranny, we could say, of the urgent. We all have day to day issues which consume and take over such that we easily lose our peace and joy and find it difficult to witness to Christian love. St Paul understood this but holds out the hope that when we grasp and take hold of the gospel, the revelation he received, from Christ and made known in the gospels by the church we can raise our heads up, we can put our mind and hearts into the fresh air and blue sky of the life of Christ. Christ completely changed the way we relate to God. St Paul put it like this: ‘In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.’ (Ephesians 3:12).   Are you confident and free when approaching God?  This is the promise and hope of the gospel and we can know and experience a familiarity and ease when coming before God in prayer.  It is this relationship, expressed in our prayer life, receiving the Eucharist and drawing close to God when reading his word, that we can be strengthened and renewed by the Holy Spirit in our inner spirit, our inner being, the depths of our soul.  

God wants us to know more than anything else the width, height, and depth of his love because this love surpasses knowledge and with it we will be filled to the fullest measure with all the beauty, truth and goodness of God.  This is our living hope, this is the living promise of the gospel, this can be our experience.  We leave the final word, and by way of bringing to a fitting conclusion for our readers this holy and anointed year dedicated to the Apostle St Paul, a prayer of St Paul, who expresses so beautifully and wonderfully the cry, aspiration, hope and vision of all our hearts:

‘For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family  in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!
Amen.
(Ephesians 3:14-20).