Today our reflection will be longer than usual given we need to touch on three main aspects of today’s liturgy of the word, and calendar, namely; the end of the Book of Acts and the fate of Saint Paul, the Gospel for the day dealing with Peter and John’s own fates, and the saint we celebrate on the liturgical calendar, Saint Felix of Cantalice, a wonderful Cappuchin Franciscan. Please bear with me as I invoke the Holy Spirit to speak to your heart in some way through these words!
Okay.. During these last several weeks, we have been given beautiful insights to the birth and continuation of the Church, through a concentrated examination of Saint Paul’s journeys in particular.
Yesterday, for the third time, Paul tells his story to King Agrippa about how he used to be a persecutor of Christians but how then the Lord appeared to him on the Road to Damascus where he was instantly blinded by a divine light. Agrippa thought this was all ridiculous nonsense but nevertheless agreed with Festus the governor that none of it warranted a punishment, much less an execution. They would have let him go had Paul not made appeal to be tried before a Roman tribunal given he was a Roman citizen, something he had to do given his then alternative option to head to Jerusalem knowing that on the way back there they were already planning to kill him.
We are then told of the long and eventful sea journey to Rome, which included a storm and being shipwrecked on the island of Malta. The people received him with much warmth there and even today, if you visit this tiny island to approximately half a million inhabitants you’ll be treated well. I should know as my family is Maltese and I belong to the Maltese Franciscan Province of … get this.. St Paul the Apostle.. yes, his shipwreck was a blessing in disguise for the entire nation of Malta and to this day we thank Almighty God for thinking of us and visiting us through his apostle to the nations. It was already beginning to get cold and they wintered for three months on the island and brought the message to a very embracing Mediterranean people. Then they departed.
Finally, when they got to Rome they were once again received warmly by community members on the Appian Way, the ancient highway that led to, and ran through, the city of Rome.
With an accompanying soldier guarding him at all times, Paul was allowed to live on his own. One might ask, “why the special treatment?” It was most likely due to his Roman citizenship but also the fact that he showed his captors pure love and also the fact that during the actual shipwreck on the shores of Malta, he did not try to flee with the other prisoners and assured the Roman entourage that no one would be lost. So this would have enamoured the Romans who were, at the same time, just doing their jobs. Clearly, the prisoner was not regarded as dangerous.
Paul once again, as was customary for him, made contacts with his fellow Jews and reached out to them. Emperor Claudius had decreed they all be expelled, but the decree was now lifted and Jews were allowed to return. Nero was now the emperor since AD 54. He was known to force Christians into gladiator matches, where they would be eaten by lions, and he often lit his garden parties with the burning carcasses of Christian human torches. He inherited the throne from his adopted father Claudius who several ancient sources accuse Nero of poisoning. Aged just 16, Nero was already married. His wife was Octavia, the late Claudius’ daughter, and a darling in the public eye. She was murdered by arrangement of Poppaea Sabina, Nero’s new love, who also plotted the deaths of a number of other individuals for political reasons and to secure her proximity to Nero. Yes, it’s a sad soap opera, but historians think this Poppaea, although ruthless, had at some point formerly converted to Judaism and therefore sympathized with the Jews, a leniency which may have rubbed off on Nero and hence the lapse of the decree by Claudius that all Jews be expelled from Rome.
Paul finds himself in this ruthless culture of bloodthirsty power, murder, and immorality, but focuses his attention on good relations with his fellow Jews who were allowed to return back into Rome even if some of them were ultimately responsible for his having to appeal to Caesar.
The entire Book of Acts ends by telling us that Paul spent two years in his place of arrest:
“…proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.”
He writes his letter to Philemon, looking forward to his release and asks for arrangements to be made for him to stay at his house. He also wrote his letters to the Colossians and Ephesians during this time, and that’s it, the Book of Acts comes to an abrupt close.
Nothing on his release, and nothing on his martyrdom, however we do know that both occurred, from Tradition and extra-biblical writings.
The New International Version Bible points out, there are a number of indications that Paul was released from his imprisonment at the end of two years: first of all, Acts stops abruptly at this time meaning either more had to come and yet wasn’t put into writing, or to give the impression that the whole story can only be written as we continue our journey within our heavenly homeland. Secondly, Paul wrote to churches expecting to visit them soon; so he must have anticipated a release (see Phil 2:24; Philem 22); Thirdly, a number of the details in the Pastoral Letters do not fit into the historical setting given in the book of Acts. Following the close of Acts, these details indicate a return to Asia Minor, Crete and Greece; and lastly, tradition indicates that Paul went to Spain. Even if he did not go, the very fact that a tradition arose, suggests a time when he could have taken that journey.
It is clear that the sudden ending of Acts indicates that it is not an ending at all, but a beginning. Luke’s story begins with Jesus, as he outlines beautifully in his gospel, and continues in Jesus as he begins to indicate through the entire adventure of Acts. Acts begins with the Pentecost experience when the apostles and all involved are entrusted with the continuation of what our Lord begun. It begins where Jesus left off, in Jerusalem, where the Spirit of the Lord will begin to move throughout the entire world.
Christianity, from being a tiny movement of a small number of Jews, is now a world phenomenon. Many more tragedies and victories would come, but Rome would forever remain the headquarters of a religion that emperors wanted vanquished, for it is precisely in the one city of the world, where these same mortal men proclaimed themselves gods to the peoples of the world, that the true God puts his foot down and establishes the overseeing of his universal Church, his children in every nation for time to come.
But, what happened to our beloved Saint Paul? The traditional view is that Paul was beheaded in Rome during the reign of Nero AD 64-67. The apostles were all willing to suffer and die for their faith. While the evidence for individual apostles varies, there is very good historical reason to believe that Paul died as a martyr in the mid to late 60s as I’ve just indicated.
The book of Acts and 2 Timothy 4:6-8 indicate that Paul knew his death was imminent. Extra biblically, there is evidence from 1 Clement 5:5-7, written in the years AD 95-96, where the writer describes Paul as suffering tremendously for his faith and then being “set free from this world and transported up to the holy place, having become the greatest example of endurance.” While details regarding the manner of his fate are lacking, the immediate context strongly implies that Clement was setting up Paul as an example of martyrdom. Other early evidences for the martyrdom of Paul can be found in Ignatius’ Letter to the Ephesians (12:2), Polycarp’s Letter to the Philippians (9:1-2), and also through Dionysius of Corinth as reported by Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History (2.25.4), and in Irenaeus’ Against Heresies (3.1.1), The Acts of Paul, and finally in Tertullian (Scorpiace 15:5-6).
The early, consistent, and unanimous testimony is that Paul died as a martyr. But what about the claim he was beheaded? Can this part of the traditional account be trusted?
The first reference to Paul’s death by beheading is found in the Acts of Paul, specifically in The Martyrdom of Paul. A few years later, at the turn of the second century, Tertullian became the first church father to state that Nero had Paul beheaded in Rome. And then in the early fourth century, Eusebius confirms this tradition.
Also, when one makes it to Rome and visits a place called Tre Fontane, which means three fountains, they will be standing at what was recorded by early Christians to be the exact spot Paul was beheaded, and when his head dropped and skipped along the ground three times, given the brute force of the executioners blow, it created a miraculous fountain of water at each of those spots. His remains were later said to have been transported to where they are now safely kept in the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, within the sarcophagus that archeological endeavours discovered with time. We ask this powerful saint to continue to pray for us, for our families and for the world, so that people will receive the Lord’s mercy, before he comes in his justice.
Speaking of Rome, for forty years, between 1547 – 1587, it would be blessed with the presence of a Franciscan Capuchin friar who would go on to become a great saint, Felix of Cantalice. Rome again became the centre of the world during the Renaissance: between the 1440s and the first half of the 1500s it was a real hotbed of talents such as Michelangelo and Raphael. Felix was born in 1515 and for twenty eight years worked his parent’s farm, while developing a magnificent prayer life doing so. He would eventually become a Capuchin Franciscan, and from Cittaducale where he was born and entered the first friary, he would eventually be sent to Rome.
From Independent Catholic News we read: In Rome, Brother Felix became a familiar sight, wandering barefoot through the streets, with a sack slung over his shoulders, knocking on doors to seek donations. He received permission from his superiors to help the needy, especially widows with many children. It is said that his begging sack was as bottomless as his heart. Brother Felix blessed all benefactors and all those he met with a humble Deo Gratias!, causing many to refer to him as 'Brother Deo Gratias'.
Felix was so successful in his work that during the famine of 1580, the political leader of Rome asked the Capuchins if they would 'lend' Felix to them so he could collect food and provisions for the entire city. The Capuchins agreed and Felix embraced his new task. He preached in the street, rebuked corrupt politicians and officials, and exhorted young men to stop leading dissolute lives. He also composed simple teaching canticles, and arranged for children to gather in groups to sing them as a way to teach them the catechism.
The plain-spoken Brother Felix was a good friend of St Philip Neri, and an acquaintance of Charles Borromeo. Felix developed a reputation as a healer. As he got older, his superior had to order him to wear sandals to protect his health. Cardinal Santori had offered to use his influence to have the elderly Felix relieved of the difficult task of questing, but Felix refused.
Felix died in Rome in 1587 on his 72nd birthday, and was buried in the crypt of the Church of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini. He was canonized on 22 May 1712 by Pope Clement XI - the first Capuchin friar in the history of the Capuchin Order to be canonized.
St Felix is usually represented in art as holding in his arms the Infant Jesus, because of a vision he is said to have had, when the Blessed Virgin appeared to him and placed the Divine Child in his arms.
Pope Saint John Paul II observed that Felix is "shown bearing the Infant Jesus in his arms because in bearing the burdens of the needy he had carried in his arms the poor Christ himself."
Through Saints Felix and Paul, we are able to intuit how a deep and profound love for Christ, gave them the drive and motivation that we see amply displayed throughout their generous lives. They inspire us to likewise try to do our best to be of service to our brothers and sisters, so as to ultimately bring them to true life which is found in Christ alone.
In today’s gospel we have a reflection on the fates of two other apostles, Peter and John, two pillars of the early Church, and Peter of course the one upon whom Jesus would build his indestructible Body of Believers to span all ages in every corner of the world. Peter is wondering about John, and since they all saw a special tender love for John that Jesus for some reason wanted to make plain to them, they seemed to not be able to connect the dots, in that John was to personify every Christian, till the end of time. We have to remember, John is the one disciple associated with contemplation and prayer, the thing Jesus calls, “the one thing necessary” and in other words, “priority number one”.
”. It is because John stuck close to the Lord, even in prayer, that he was able to recognize him first beyond any of the apostles, if we recall the two times out at sea, when they saw Jesus at a distance, first walking on the water during his years of public ministry, and then on the shores of Tiberias in his resurrected form. In both instances, it was John, whom through prayer fine-tuned his ability to discern the Lord, and so who would become a model for all of them and all of us. Peter is wondering in the gospel today, what is to become of John, the “beloved”. Jesus’ response that Peter should just focus on following him, rather than worry about John who if God wanted would live till the day he would return in glory, causes a knee-jerk reaction in the apostles who then began to assume that John wouldn’t die. But John, who is writing this very gospel as we have it in plain English when he says, “This disciple is the one who vouches for these things and has written them down, and we know that his testimony is true,” makes it clear that Jesus never said he, John, would never die and in fact, it is traditionally believed that having survived to an old age and beyond the deaths of all the other apostles, he eventually died of natural causes at Ephesus sometime after AD 98, during the reign of Trajan, thus becoming the only apostle who did not die as a martyr.
The four saints we have briefly referred to today can give us a lot to think about. In the final analysis, our entire life’s journey is about becoming saints like these men and women whom we reflect on day after day. Yet, as the Blessed Bishop Sheen once said, “In discussion, we often avoid decision.” Let’s make sure that our reflection is not merely one that comes through one ear and out the other. Let us translate what we have heard into concrete acts of love for Christ, by continuing to love our neighbour as best as we can. Amen.
- https://www.indcatholicnews.com/saint/148
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