Tag Archives: St. Paul

Tribulations … Small Time and Big Time

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St. Paul writes one of his letters in this icon. He sits at a writing desk with plenty of writing supplies with his feet on a small pedestal. This is not a footrest. It is common in icons for saints to be slightly elevated by standing on such a pedestal to indicate that they are in a slightly higher position than we are, closer to God, and able to see the world more clearly, more honestly and truthfully. They are “on the heights” (Ps. 18:33). They are where we aim to be when we lift up our hearts.


Even though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For the momentary light weight of our tribulation is producing a more and more exceeding and eternal weight of glory over us who are not looking to what is seen but to what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Cor. 4:16-18)

St. Paul says that although he is physically tormented and wasting away, his inner self–his spirit, his soul–is being renewed and grows stronger every day. His tribulations attack him and damage his body but he is looking forward to the glory that he will share in the Kingdom of God.

All this was true for St. Paul. What about us? We are not being attacked for our faith and tormented physically the way St. Paul was. Why do we still read this passage today? What does it have to say to us?

Not all our tribulations are caused by our mortal, political or social enemies. Sometimes our tribulations are caused by our one True Enemy, which is Death. Some people might say that the Devil is our true enemy but the Devil–the great archetype of Evil, the gigantic monster with horns and bat wings that presides over Walpurgis Night in A Night on Bald Mountain–is actually more a comic figure than a frightful, terrifying figure. In all the stories of the desert fathers and mothers, the Devil is the comic relief: he is foolish and easily duped. He is a vain narcissist and the best way to get rid of him is to laugh at him.

The idea that the Devil is an exaggerated figure of terror comes to us from the Puritans who reduced the invisible world to simply God and the Devil. The Puritans forgot that the one, true, ultimate enemy of the human race–and of the whole created order–is, in fact, Death itself (1 Cor. 15). Death is The Enemy that Christ mounts the Cross to wage war against. Death is The Enemy that is destroyed from the inside-out by Christ’s Death and Resurrection. If we think the Devil is the enemy, then Christ’s Resurrection becomes less the salvation of the world and more a spectacular feat without much direct meaning for us.

Sometimes we bring tribulations upon ourselves. We do something stupid and suffer the consequences. But sometimes we embrace tribulations in order to teach ourselves a lesson. That’s one of the aspects of Lent: we embrace things that are physically difficult–fasting, longer prayers or Bible reading, putting up with people who are difficult–in order to experience a little bit of Christ’s victory over Death here and now.

The renewal of the human race, begun in the sacred bath of baptism, proceeds gradually and is accomplished more quickly in some people and more slowly in others. But many are making progress toward the new life …. No one starts out perfect. To think we can be perfect without a struggle against our fallen selves is a mistake. Thinking we can be perfect without a struggle is to lead the weary astray rather than uplift the weak. Is that really what you want to do?

paraphrase of St. Augustine’s The Way of Life of the Catholic Church I.35.80

God is not a sadist. He does not want us to be miserable. But sometimes we need a little reminder that the victory was won and is being played out and extended throughout the world bit by bit. We need a physical reminder of this and so we embrace small tribulations during the tithe of the year that is Lent.

I Believed and so I Spoke

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This medieval illumination depicts Jephthah sacrificing his daughter after she spends time alone with her friends in the mountains “bewailing her virginity,” described in Judges 11. There was a festival of Jephthah’s daughter every year at midwinter; Christians see her as a “type,” a prophetic anticipation, of Christ.

However, since we have the same spirit of faith according to what is written, “I believed, there I spoke out” (Ps. 116:9), we too believe; therefore, also speak out, for we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and place us together with you in his presence. (2 Cor. 4:13-14)

The Apostle Paul quotes the psalm: I believed, and so I spoke out. He points out that he–and the Christians faithful to his preaching–have the same faith as King David and Moses, who also faced great tribulations and adversaries from those they thought were their friends and followers.

The psalm that St. Paul quotes is commonly used in the Prayers Before Receiving Holy Communion. Because the Lord has delivered the psalmist, the psalmist asks, “How shall I repay the Lord for all the good things he has done for me?” The answer is: “I will lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the Name of the Lord.” and “I will offer you the sacrifice of thanksgiving [eucharist] and call upon the Name of the Lord.” God has delivered us and so we thank him by offering him a thank-offering and sharing a feast with him. We participate in Christ’s resurrection every time we offer the thank-offering and lift up the cup of salvation. But our lives have to match our liturgical actions.

He who raised Jesus from the dead will raise us also if we do his will and walk in his commandments and love the things which he loved, abstaining from all unrighteousness, covetousness, love of money, evil speaking, and false witness.

St. Polycarp of Smyrna, Epistle to the Philippians

St. Paul’s faith, and the faith of David, Moses, and all the prophets is placed in the same Lord. This same Lord delivered the prophets in the Old Testament and will deliver St. Paul and the New Testament believers as well. This deliverance is not simply victory over earthly enemies; it is victory over THE enemy, which is Death.

Paul believed that through the work of Christ, he and all believers were made greater than death and that they would all be brought before the terrible seat of judgement.

St. Theodoret of Cyr, Commentary on 2nd Corinthians

This psalm promises that “precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” This verse was often associated with Jephthah’s daughter, who was sacrificed by her father to keep a promise he had made to God and which is similar in many ways to Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac. (Read about Jephthah and his daughter here.) In both episodes, the father is asked to give a child as an offering to save a family or clan, anticipating our Father in heaven giving his own Son to be killed as a sacrifice that saves the world.

I highly recommend reading Psalm 116:9-end each week as part of our preparation for receiving Holy Communion. The words of King David become our words as well and together we lift up the cup of salvation to celebrate the victory which the Lord shares with us.

Let Light Shine

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Depictions of St. Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus, blinded by the divine light of Christ who spoke to him as he was going to arrest Christians for execution in Jerusalem.


On the contrary, we have renounced the deeds one hides for shame; we do not practice cunning or falsify the word of God, but through the open preaching of the truth we commend ourselves to anyone’s conscience in the sight of God…. it is the same God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has caused his light to shine in our hearts to spread the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Cor. 4:2, 5-6)

St. Paul was accused by his enemies in Corinth of “cunning” financial business; i.e., they accused him of shady and dishonest business deals with church money. They also accused him of “cunning” ways to read the Bible that were also shady and dishonest. He tells them that he has not been involved in any “cunning” behavior–not with money and not with reading the Bible. His interpretation of Scripture is open and honest and available to anyone with an honest, open conscience.

St. Paul alludes to Genesis 1 (“Let there be light”) when he paraphrases the Father’s command, “Let light shine out of darkness.” He might also be paraphrasing the prophet Isaiah: “O people walking in darkness, behold a great light: you that dwell in the land and shadow of death, a light shall shine upon you.” (Is. 9:2) St. Paul is saying that the same light that overcame the darkness in the beginning of the world and at the destruction of Death has shone in his heart-mind and shines in the hearts-minds of all honest people.

The light of God that shines in St. Paul and in honest people reveals the truth of the Gospel. (Remember the light that shone on St. Paul at his conversion? It struck him blind in order to heal his heart, St. Augustine said.) People “see” the brightness of the Gospel and then personally adopt it and are transformed by it; they are transformed into the image of the glorious Christ and communicate it to others who are “illuminated.” (One ancient way to refer to baptism is to call it “illumination.” Old prayers for those about to be baptized asl God to bless “those preparing for holy illumination.”)

But our actual daily experience is not bright and glorious. We are wasting away and eventually die. Yet what is strong already manifests itself in what is weak and the future erupts into the present. The eternal breaks into the perishable and enlightens what is temporary and transient.

Knowing Christ as the true light, inaccessible to falsehood, we learn this, namely, that it is necessary for us to be illuminated by the rays of the true light. But virtues are the rays of the Sun of Justice streaming forth for our illumination, through which we lay aside the works of darkness and walk becomingly as in the day and we renounce those things which shame conceals. By doing all things in the light, we become the light itself so that it shines before others which is the unique quality of light. If we recognize Christ as sanctification, in whom every action is steadfast and pure, let us prove by our actions that we ourselves stand apart, being ourselves true sharers of his name, our deeds–not just our words–coinciding with his power of sanctification.

St. Gregory of Nyssa, On Perfection