The year honoring Saint Paul comes to a close

Intermountain Catholic

+ Enlarge

Vicar General Msgr. J. Terrence Fitzgerald (left), Darren Williams, serving as thurifer, and Deacon Ricardo Arias, pray with the Bishop John C. Wester to close ?The Year of Saint Paul.?IC photo by Christine Young

SALT LAKE CITY — A solemn evening vespers to "End the Year of Saint Paul," was prayed by the Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, in the Cathedral of the Madeleine June 30. People from throughout the Diocese of Salt Lake City came to pray.

Pope Benedict XVI declared the Church would observe "The Year of St. Paul," a celebration in honor of St. Paul the Apostle, from June 28, 2008, to June 29, 2009. The year was the bi-millennium of his birth, which historians have placed between the years 7 and 10 A.D.

Saints’ days are usually associated with their deaths. Paul’s is the only feast in the Church calendar commemorating a saint’s conversion. The Book of Acts tells how Jesus apprehended Paul on the road to Damascus and shows just how critical that event was to the Church’s beginnings. This tireless convert, once a Church opponent, became what some call "the second founder of Christianity," after Christ himself.

"Paul, a former violent persecutor of Christians, when he fell to the ground dazzled by the divine light on the road to Damascus, did not hesitate to change sides to follow the resurrected Jesus, and followed him without second thoughts. He lived and worked for Christ, for him he suffered and died.

The Year of St. Paul was marked by countless commemorative, cultural, liturgical, and scholarly events in Rome and throughout the world. Vatican officials urged Catholics to study Saint Paul in Scripture to revitalize their faith in the light of his teachings and life.

"Last January, the bishops of Region 13, had a retreat in Arizona, and Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, was the retreat master. The retreat was on Saint Paul," said Bishop Wester. "But of all the things the cardinal told us, what I remember the most was a song he taught us. He was on an airplane and he composed a hymn to Saint Paul. It was a very simple song. It was just wonderful and simple, and yet so rich. And that really, I think, is at the heart of this year. The Holy Father has asked us to share in Saint Paul, to clear away all the complexities and distractions and nonessentials, and to get back to the basics.

"In the reading tonight (2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18) Paul said, ‘poured out like libation.’ I’ve been emptied in the rivers," said Bishop Wester. "And a few verses later Paul said, ‘The Lord stood by me and gave me strength. It is the Lord who is my savior, who fills me.’

"It sounds very much like I must decrease and he must increase," said Bishop Wester. "As simple as it is, when you think about it, how does Paul go about decreasing? He does it through being scourged, ship wrecked, exiled, by going without food and water, and all the things a missionary has to endure. Paul was always vigilant, always fighting the good fight, and always running the risk. Christ was always at the center of Paul’s life.

"I think this is a wonderful reflection for us in a missionary diocese," said Bishop Wester. "Paul, the great missionary, was truly a victim in a very real way. He was stripped of everything, the distractions, and the busyness. What we are about is emptying ourselves, clearing ourselves of the libations, so that we can be free with Jesus Christ, so that Jesus Christ will be the center of our minds, the center of who we are, what we do, and where we go.

"In that sense, I think it is appropriate that we pray that we will always be a missionary diocese," said Bishop Wester. "And that we will always stay close to Saint Paul, and that we will never cease to pour out ourselves of the libation for our brothers and sisters in Christ and the Church, so that Christ will always be the center of everything."