From "A Friar's Life:" Sent as Missionaries to the World

This is the homily from our assistant pastor, Fr. Tom for today's Mass. I think it's great.

Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, June 29, 2008

"Today begins a historic chapter in the history of the Church: The Jubilee Year of St Paul. Pope Benedict has declared this a year dedicated to remembering this great saint as we commemorate the 2,000th anniversary of his birth. The pope calls every Catholic to get to know St. Paul better during this year. Why? Because he is simply an extraordinary example of what God can do when we cooperate with His plans.

Paul is a man of great transformation. Through the grace of God, he went from being a murderer of Christians to being a martyr for Christ. Paul was first a devout Jew bent on crushing this Christian movement. At the height of his violent campaign, Jesus appeared to Paul, while he was on his way to Damascus to arrest the Christians there. That encounter completely changed his life, and the course of his history and ours.

He became the great missionary who tirelessly traveled for almost 30 years, starting Christian communities in city after city, preaching and suffering, and writing a major portion of the New Testament. Next to Jesus, Paul is the most prominent person in the New Testament. Of its 27 books, 13 are letters attributed to Paul. More than half of the Acts of the Apostles is devoted to his conversion and his activities spreading the good news about Jesus to the world..." (Continued here)