Continued 👆🏽
This he became the antithesis of the wicked:
“The hands of the unrighteous destroy people’s homes, steal money, write deceit and keep it for posterity. Their feet run day and night to shed blood, and death follows them.”
Yet Paul’s hands wrote salvation. His feet carried peace. His tongue loosed truth. His eyes shone mercy.
IV. The Suffering of a Witness
Let no one think that to be a witness is to be at ease. No, it is to share in Christ’s cross. Saint Paul was cast into prison after prison:
In Jerusalem, among his own people.
In Caesarea, before governors and kings.
In Rome, the heart of the Gentile world.
His final imprisonment in Rome was a pit of darkness and ice, yet that damp cell bore fruit more radiant than all the palaces of emperors. From such places he wrote to Timothy, to the churches, to the nations. Where others would have lamented, he rejoiced. Where others saw defeat, he saw the triumph of the Lamb.
He turned every prison into a pulpit, every chain into a crown, and every lash into a hymn. The demons who had held sway for centuries were cast down. Their idols were shattered. Their temples closed. For where the apostle's foot had not yet trod, his letters arrived with fire.
V. The Sober Warning and Lament
What grief now pierces the soul when one sees the office of Saint Paul desecrated by the corrupt, who bear the name but not the Spirit. To sit in the chair of Paul and care not for the flock! To hold the title of bishop or preacher, but abandon the Gospel for worldly praise!
Let us tremble. For he who was once Saul was not preserved by his own zeal, but by divine mercy. And he who is now “Paul” in title must walk in Paul’s steps, or else bear the greater judgment.
Conclusion
let us not be idle spectators of the faith. We are witnesses. Not only Paul, not only Peter, not only Stephen. You and I by virtue of baptism and grace are called to carry His Name, His Cross, His truth.
Do not fear your past, for Saul’s past was stained with blood. Do not fear your weakness, for Paul’s strength was Christ alone. But tremble lest we sit idle while souls perish. Arise! Let each heart become a vessel. Let each home become an altar. Let each tongue become a sword of truth.
Let us live as Paul lived, suffer as he suffered, speak as he spoke, and believe as he believed—until Christ is formed in us, and we too are called “witnesses” by the lips of the Lord.
May the name of the Holy God be praised forever and ever in every tongue that He has created, today and always.
May the blessings of God's mother, the virgin, and the cross be upon us.
Amen.
© John's Repentance
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