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Romans is the most profound of Paul's letters, because it is the best organized. In all of his other letters, Paul is dealing with specific issues that matter to whichever community he is addressing. But in Romans he is writing to a church that he does not know but that he wants to visit on his way to Spain. More »
Paul wrote 2 Corinthians somewhere around a.d. 56 or 57—some twenty years into his ministry. Paul is an experienced apostle by now, and he has been around long enough to have run into a number of people who criticize his ministry. And this is precisely what is going on in Corinth—so much so that Paul feels he must explain his ministry to them again. More »
If we look at Paul's Letter to the Galatians, we see that the "Council of Jerusalem" that we examined in our first article did not completely resolve the issue. A close look at this letter can also show us how the controversies surrounding Gentile circumcision allowed Paul to explain in even greater depth what it means that Jesus has set us free—free from law, from sin, and even from death itself. More »
I want to take you on a tour of St. Paul and his writings, and that means we will do two things: First, we will look at the Acts of the Apostles to get a sense of Paul's missionary work and how it was both accepted and rejected by Jews and Gentiles alike. Second, we will look at some of Paul's letters to see how he himself dealt with the challenges of his ministry, especially with the opposition he faced from various groups that did not approve of the gospel he was proclaiming. So let's start with Acts, beginning with a bit of background. More »
For the first part of his life, Matthew Kelly had what he describes as a "rather casual" relationship with God. Growing up in Sydney, Australia, he attended Sunday Mass with his family and prayed "sometimes—when I wanted something." But for the most part, God seemed far away. More »
Outside, gray clouds scudded damply across the spring sky. Inside, a continuous procession passed by the woman's bedside. "People came to pray near her, to bring her a last token of affection," her husband recalled years later. "I thus saw in my home numbers of people whom I did not know, whom I had never seen before, and who gave free vent to their sincere and touching grief." So many attended her funeral, expressing such emotion, that the clergy present asked in utter astonishment, "Who was this woman?" More »