«Live in love as Christ loved you” (Eph. 5:2)
Apostle Paul, whose memory we celebrate today, often admonishes us, along with Apostle Peter: “Live in love, as Christ loved you and gave Himself up on your behalf, an offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph. 5:2) Above all other things, it is the virtue of love that brings man closer to God. When we show love, we become participants of God and are likened to Him. The same concept is stressed by our Lord Jesus Christ: “Pray for those who are ill disposed against you and persecute you, only so can you be children of your Father in Heaven” (Matt. 5:44-45)
This kind of love was followed by St. Paul as a rule in his life and kept it until the end. No one has ever loved, even his own enemies, as St. Paul did. No one was beneficial to those who plotted against him as St. Paul did. No one suffered so much for those who made him grieve as St. Paul did. Apostle Paul is the one who had the courage to consider love as a “major” virtue, even greater than the virtues of faith and hope: “now remains faith, hope and love, these three. Yet greater of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13)
Love is neither a theoretical nor a sentimental matter. True love must be applicable in one’s daily life. For this reason St. Paul is actively concerned about everyone. He raises money for the Christians in Jerusalem, for his collaborators who travelled extensively and needed supplies. Yet, what we are really stunned by is St. Paul’s unmeasured love in the case of a slave called Onesimos, who stole money from his boss and escaped unharmed. When he later found refuge in Rome, he met St. Paul who was a prisoner at the time and he helped him repent and change his way of life. Then, he sends him back to his boss Philemon with a letter to be handed to him, in which he is asking Philemon to forgive Onesimos and receive him with love. St. Paul himself undertook the responsibility of paying back the debt and damage the slave Onesimos had caused to Philimon and asks: “Please receive him not as a slave, but as a beloved brother, just as you would receive me”. If St. Paul showed such love to the slave Onesimos, one can realize what he did for many-many others.
St. John Chrysostom, in his third Homily on St. Paul, writes: “Try to obtain Paul’s love and you will receive the crown of glory. What made Paul widely known was the power of love he possessed. We, too, should always follow the path of love, so that we may be deemed worthy to receive the crowns of victory for our spiritual struggles in the heavenly Kingdom”.
To those who may argue that St. Paul was an exception and a unique case in the life of the Church and claim that it is impossible for us today to imitate, St. John Chrysostom replies: “Let us not consider impossible to imitate St. Paul. He, too, had a body like ours and a similar soul. He fed himself with the same kind of food and lived in a similar social environment. Yet, what distinguished him was his warm zeal and willingness to imitate Christ in all. If we have zeal, nothing can prevent us from being likened to Paul”. Because of his willingness, he received God’s Grace”. (4th Homily)
Let us all, therefore, put an effort to become like him. And if we get to resemble Paul, we will surely resemble Christ, Who sacrificed His life out of His His love for us.