Year of St. Paul winds down

June 27, 12:09 AMDC Catholic Living ExaminerDenise Hunnell, M.D.

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  photo by Lawrence OP

Just as the Year for the Priest begins, the Year of St. Paul winds down. The Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, June 29, 2009, marks the conclusion of the year proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI to honor St. Paul the Apostle. Archbishop Wuerl reflects on the significance of this past year in his most recent column:

 

What about Paul was so significant that an entire year was held in his honor? His response to Christ's call to him. Paul's life was changed entirely by the direct call he received from Christ as he made his way to Damascus. As he traveled on the road to that city, the risen Lord Jesus appeared to him and called him to be "the apostle to the Gentiles."

This was the beginning not only of a call to conversion, but of a confirmation of a revelation that you and I now take for granted as a matter of faith. Jesus and the members of his Church are one. This is the revelation that Paul would return to over and over again in his Letters to the Corinthians, to the Ephesians, to the Galatians and to the Romans.

It is truly fitting that the Church follows a year dedicated to St. Paul with a year dedicated to the vocation of priest. Like St. Paul, each of us receives a personal call from Christ. Some are called to the vocation of marriage. Some are called to the vocation of chaste single life. Some are called to consecrated religious life. Some are called to be priests. Each must hear the call and respond to the call.

It is appropriate during the Year for the Priest to reflect on the response of St. Paul when he was called to be the “apostle to the gentiles”. It was radical and dramatic. It was certainly not the plan Paul had envisioned for himself. Yet, he humbly subordinated his own agenda to the will of God. In our current culture, the vocation of priest appears to be an equally radical response to Christ’s call.

As these waning days of the Year of St. Paul the Apostle segue into the Year for the Priest, reflect on this great Apostle’s conversion from “my will” to “Thy will”. Pray for all men who have responded to the call to the priesthood. Pray for all those discerning such a call. May they, like St. Paul, abandon themselves to Christ and his Church.