Today we read about a saint you've probably heard of. St Paul the Apostle is the saint whose feast day we celebrate in today's blog. You can read more about him here or in the New Testament, most of which was written by him, and about his life.
I owe Paul an apology. In previous blogs I've given Paul a hard time and even called him a jerk. But reading the passage about him in the book In Caelo et in Terra, I saw him through fresh eyes and appreciated more of what he did with his life. In case you wondered, he did NOT change his name from Saul to Paul when he became a Christian. That's a common misconception, and an easy mistake to make, since so many Biblical characters DID have their names changed by God during the course of their lives.... Abram became Abraham, Simon became Peter... and so many other examples. But Paul was actually called both Saul and Paul his entire life... they're just different versions of his name in different languages.
Paul's life, from the moment he met Jesus on that road, became focused entirely on Jesus. He lived the rest of his life telling everyone about Jesus and helping them grow in their faith. And eventually he paid the ultimate price and was martyred in Rome.
God, thanks for giving us the writings and the life of St Paul to ponder. St Paul, please pray for us.
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