St. Paul: Love of Christ

The Apostle Paul loved Christ above all else. Christ had entered into his heart, and thus, Paul considered himself the happiest and most fortunate of creatures. He was imprisoned and considered his captivity to be as if in heaven. He was beaten and lashed many times and considered this as a gift. He endured great difficulties and sufferings and considered these to be a grace and the best reward. Insulted many times, he returned but blessings. Rejected, offended and stoned he prayed and commended his oppressors to Heaven. "For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities (2 Cor 12:10).

In the midst of these trials, he overflows with joy because he found in Jesus his only boast, his only happiness and his only hope ... and these made even greater because those to whom he preached remained constant in in God: "for now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord." (1Thes 3:8) He yearned to draw near to all the People of God. Thus, he treated all people with profound kindness, never failing to encourage them. He confirmed the faith of the faithful, and raised up the fallen. He healed the sick and gave strength to the weak. What praise does you justice, O Paul? You will be numbered by both the Church and the world as amongst the greatest of the great.

In today's epistle, Ephesians (5:8b-19), Paul repeats that only God can lift human beings from darkness to light. Indeed, this was his experience when he was transferred from darkness to the light of Christ when Christ called him to open the eyes of mankind. And this precisely is what happens to us when we seek the Face of God ... we converted, that is, we turn away from darkness and behold the light of Christ. From then on we walk as children of the light, we walk in righteousness, devotion and truth. Paul further urges us to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that our conversation might always lead us to thankful praise and exaltation of the One poured out upon us in the Light that never fades.

Issam John Darwish BSO DD

Eparch

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