Year of St. Paul
A series of monthly articles to celebrate the Year of St. Paul. Each month, Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, S.J., a noted Scripture scholar, will highlight a different aspect of Paul’s writings and times.
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Written by Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, S.J.
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 As the Year of St. Paul draws to a close and Catholic Christians reflect upon his legacy to the church, we turn our attention to two brief, seemingly inconsequential epistles which are rich in teaching how faith communities and individuals can live lives guided by the Spirit.
At 25 verses, Paul’s epistle to Philemon is among the shortest of New Testament writings. And its theme, the treatment of Philemon’s runaway slave Onesimus, might appear to have no relevance today. But its subtle handling of the demands of brotherhood, insofar as they surpass the requirements of justice, speak to every era, including ours. Paul observed that, though he could command Philemon to do the right thing, he would much rather allow the Spirit to lead him to choose the loving way.
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Written by Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, S.J.
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 Biblical scholars are divided over the authenticity of the epistle to the Ephesians: did Paul or someone else write it? Some maintain its Pauline authorship. Others consider it the work of a disciple of Paul. All agree there is a difference of tone and style from the other Pauline epistles.
If it is by Paul, Ephesians must date from his Roman imprisonment in the early 60s. If composed by a disciple of Paul’s (possibly a summary of his theology to accompany a collection of his writings), the epistle was likely written in Asia Minor towards the end of the first century.
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Written by Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, S.J.
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 At Easter, Christians are urged — in a reading from Paul’s epistle to the Colossians — since they have been raised with Christ, to “seek the things that are above, where Christ is.” This cosmic dimension to the Easter proclamation introduces us to the remarkable teaching given to the church of Colossae.
Located in the Lycus Valley (southwestern Turkey), Colossae was 175 kilometres east of Ephesus, another important Christian city. In the mid-first century a Christian community existed there, perhaps founded by Epaphras (1:7-8).
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Written by Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, S.J.
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 Paul’s second epistle to the Corinthians dwells repeatedly on the threat of suffering and imminence of death in the apostle’s life and, by extension, in that of the Christian believer.
While complex — and perhaps an amalgamation of several shorter messages — in its present form, it is a letter of consolation that illustrates how the dying and rising of Christ is mysteriously at work in the inner being of each Christian (2 Corinthians 1:3-7).
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Written by Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, S.J.
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 In Acts, when Paul meets the Risen Jesus, the Lord identifies Himself with the Christians Paul threatens with beatings, imprisonment, death. Christ said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting” (9:5), associating Himself with the church. Paul develops this in his teaching about the church as the Body of Christ.
Paul’s doctrine on this is found prominently in the Corinthian epistles. They appear in disjointed fashion during the early weeks of all three cycles in Ordinary Time, as in this year’s Sundays leading into Lent.
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