The ability to change

The charism most obvious in the life of Paul after the Road to Damascus is the ability to change and to go beyond the past. "but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal." (Ph 3:13) Having found his freedom in Christ he leaves behind his old life along with all he had learned. With a new way of thinking and a new way of living he now sees himself as a citizen of the world and for all the world. For the Jews he was a Jew, for the Greeks he was a Greek, for all the Gentile Nations he was a Gentile! "I have become all things to all men, that I might gain all" (1 Cor. 9:22). Jesus made him a sign and source of contradictions so that in his personality we find both weakness and great strength. "For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Cor 12:10)

He was humble and yet, at the same time, he could be aloof. Many times he said of himself that he was the least of the Apostles, but he says also— "Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one ... I am talking like a madman ... with far greater labours, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings" (2 Cor 11:23).

In St Paul there is to be found gathered together bot joy and sorrow. Those who taste the love of God know well that, in the midst of human sadness, God bestows on them a heavenly joy. "as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; … as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; … as having nothing, and yet possessing everything." (2 Cor 6:9)

In today's epistle (Eph 2:4-10) the Apostle, Paul, reminds us that God is rich in compassion, and, that He has loved us to the extreme that He makes us to live with and in His Only Son, Jesus Christ. If we are in need of salvation, His grace is with us. If we are in need of resurrection, with Him we will rise. Why? Because, through His Incarnation, we have become His members, so that were the Vine is, there are the branches.

Also, Paul emphasises that we will be saved by God's freely-given grace. However, God also asks that we deepen our faith in Him, that we surrender to His will and that we walk in the way of good works.

Issam John Darwish BSO, DD

Eparch

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