I Have Kept the Faith

I am already being poured out like a libation,
and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have competed well; I have finished the race;
I have kept the faith.

       These words of St. Paul are haunting as they describe both his present predicament, being under house arrest in Rome, but also his near future, as he can see the end of his life.

       Yet, St. Paul realizes the most important thing, and that is his eternal salvation.  He is looking back on his life of faith and can say with good moral confidence that he has competed well and has kept the faith.  This notion of competing and keeping the faith are signal words for perseverance and if there is one virtue that describes the life of faith the best it would be perseverance.

Looking at St. Paul’s life you better believe he had perseverance, unshakable at that.  After his conversion he waited patiently for the Church to recognize his sincerity, I would imagine in some cases it took his entire life.  St. Paul traveled from place to place which was all done on foot, through some dangerous territory which was filled with brigands, criminals, and marauders.  The towns and cities he entered were not always receptive, as in many places he was arrested, punished either by whippings, being stoned, punched, slapped and spit on.  He also had to win over his Jewish brothers and sisters many of who turned their backs on him.  Finally he was arrested and brought to Rome and it’s amazing he did not die on the way as he was bit by a deadly scorpion and also shipwrecked.

St. Paul was a man of great perseverance as through it all he always kept the faith, he competed well!  St. Paul went on to receive his crown of glory for his work in the faith.  A question for us is: How much of a model is St. Paul to us?  Do we look to this wonderful saint in our own moments of struggle, especially when the last thing on earth that we want is to carry the cross one more step!  And yet, St. Paul did and he urges us to do the same, his entire two letters to St. Timothy are precisely about that, follow my example.

Being holy and getting to heaven is not easy work, it requires belief, but belief is easy, belief in my mind that is, the hard part is living out that belief each and every day, and not just in the days that we are smiling but even in the days in which we are crying or even at wits end.  St. Paul continues to cry out to us, the great preacher that he was, and says, “Hold on, continue to get up, fight the good fight, become a libation onto the Lord and keep the faith!  Amen!

I took that picture at the Vatican in Aug. of 2005