The Pauline Year in ‘Niedziela’
Fr. IRENEUSZ SKUBIŚ
We are in the Year of St Paul. Saying ‘we are’, I mean our editorial work connected with evangelisation, which is under the sign of St Paul this year. Furthermore, we notice that it was Christ himself that entrusted the Church with this task, in the words quoted by St Matthew, ‘Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations...’ (Matthew 28:19). Thus all baptised people are obliged to proclaim Christ. In order to proclaim Christ one must get to know him and love him; one must be inspired by his teaching and desire true happiness for all people – the kingdom of God. Naturally, the most common matters concerning our living, health, education of our children, are important but what is more important is the content of man’s heart, all the things that decide about the sense of our lives. The sense of St Paul’s life was to carry Christ to people. At first, he did not have that aim. We know that St Paul was Saul who persecuted Christians, who guarded the coats of Stephen and then he wreaked havoc among Christians. And here Saul, flashed by the light of Christ, opened his eyes and became a man of the Gospel, man whose heart was filled with different contents. It must have evoked astonishment. The thing that testified to the victory of such an attitude, in spite of many obstacles he had to face and finally, his martyr’s death, is, for example, the present year connected with the 2000th anniversary of the birth of this Apostle to the Nations whose name has been written down in the history of Christianity and the Church for all ages. We do our best to carry out evangelisation, which is under the sign of this Saint, such a colourful figure, with an interesting life, so zealous in his activities for the cause of Christ and so fervent in his love for Christ, wanting our Readers to open wider their hearts to Christ. At the beginning of the Pauline Year we published a small album entitled ‘Saint Paul. Apostle to the Nations’, presenting the figure and places connected with the Apostle’s life. The previous issue of ‘Niedziela’ (No. 45) contained another small album entitled ‘Saint Paul. The Lord Sent Me to Proclaim the Gospel’, which besides beautiful photographs took by our editors had the teaching of St Paul. I encourage you to buy these small but excellent publications and to study the teaching of the Apostle who reveals Christ and his mission on earth to us.
We also recommend reflections on St Paul included in the little book ‘Following St Paul’. We are preparing a larger album ‘Following Saint Paul Towards Christ’, full of beautiful photographs and selected teachings of St Paul. The Album will be available in November. Another ‘Greek’ album about St Paul is also being prepared. It focuses on the stay of the Apostle on the European territories of the Roman Empire when the Greek language was used – Greek is also the language of the Gospels as well as of the epistles of St Paul. This album will also contain very interesting poems based on the texts of St Paul. The wonderful texts of Fr Bartlomiej Jozej Kucharski, a Carmelite Father, refer to the Hellenistic culture on which Christianity was also based. Presenting these matters I would like to invite our Readers to reflect on the figure of St Paul. ‘Niedziela’ wants to present his texts as well as various publications about the Apostle that can enrich our lives, deepen our faith and our adherence to Christianity.
"Niedziela" 46/2008