A review of the history of the Pauline Family, and thus the history of Pauline holiness, brings to light in a powerful way our points of reference with regard to our charism: the Divine Master, the Queen of Apostles, and the Apostle Paul, who was considered to be our father, founder, model, and teacher (cf. AD 2, 64, 159).We must look especially to Paul to understand our foundation. St. Paul casts light on our relationship with the Lord and gives a particular significance to our genesis in the C...

The evangelist Luke and Paul himself assure us that the Apostle was a pure‐blooded Jew, who was very proud of his origins and who was faithful to his religious beliefs to the point of martyrdom. This very fidelity caused him to persecute the Christians, whom he believed were dangerous enemies of the Jewish faith. His socio‐religious roots are confirmed by important testimonies:a)   “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of an important city” (Acts 21:39).b)&n...

The Church celebrates the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul on 25 January. Yet, throughout the ages, countless people from many different cultures were also converted to Jesus, moving from sin to a holy life, from atheism to the Christian Faith. Like Paul, some of these individuals were martyred for their fidelity to Christ. But the “conversion” of Saul is very different and has no comparison among the great conversions that have marked the story of the saints. Paul himself di...

Of all the saints in the Church under whose patronage Blessed James Alberione could have placed our Congregation, why did he choose Paul, whose life and letters form such a large part of the New Testament? The answer to that question paints the horizon of our spirituality, of our mission, of our living together as community, indeed, of every aspect of our consecrated life.Paul—you lived your experience of faith, and you shared it with others through preaching and writing…Paul&m...

Paul yearns to make Jesus known. He is not interested in anything else. By proclaiming the Gospel, he wants to provoke others to meet Jesus personally, similar to the way he met the radiant Lord on the way to Damascus.  But in speaking about his encounter with Jesus, Paul is also obliged to speak about himself. And this is providential because in doing so he reveals that what he believed to be a personal story he had fashioned “with his own hands” was in reality a story God had ...

Considered from the perspective of the spirit that animated it, the various aspects of Paul’s work formed a perfect unity inasmuch as his mission consisted of service of the Living God to the exclusion of all else. Prior to the Damascus event, this mission was characterized by zealous service of the Law of Moses (a zeal worthy of imitation); afterward, it was characterized by fervor for Christ and his Gospel, because under the noonday sky of Damascus Paul was “seized” by God an...

One of the great themes in the letters of Saint Paul is union with Christ. It is a theme that penetrates all of his letters, his life, and his mission. There are different aspects of union with Christ that are woven throughout Paul’s letters. Christians are united with Christ because they are baptized into his death: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized in Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as ...