OCEANIA/SOLOMON ISLANDS - “Why I love Saint Paul” an article by Archbishop Adrian Smith, on the eve of the Pauline Year, celebrated in the Pacific Islands

Thursday, 12 June 2008

Honiara (Agenzia Fides) – Among the tiny islands of the Pacific, in the most remote fishing villages and among the wooden churches that can only be reached by seaways, the people are already talking of the Pauline Year. The Catholics of the Solomon Islands are preparing to celebrate the Pauline Year declared by the Holy Father Benedict XVI from June 28, 2008 to June 29, 2009. The local Church has been doing awareness campaigns for months, trying to include the participation of all local entities (parishes, associations, movements, religious congregations, schools, and youth groups) and celebrate this Year dedicated to the Apostle to the Gentiles with solemnity.
In order to aid in the reflection throughout the various communities, an article written by Archbishop Adrian Smith of Honiara, the capital city, has been distributed on all levels. It is entitled, “Why I love Saint Paul.” “For a long time I was afraid of St. Paul, but now I have fallen in love with him,” the Archbishop says in his message that was also published in the Catholic journal in the Solomon Islands, “Voice Katolika.” “Earlier, I found his writings difficult, but as time went on, I began to see St. Paul in a different way. I grew to see him as a great missionary, as a person who embraced each group he evangelized. He instructed them, he challenged them; he trusted them and gave them responsibility for their own local communities. He constantly prayer for the communities he brought to the Good News. He loved those he brought to faith in Christ Jesus.”
The text continues: “His love for those he converted did not stop him from correcting them if he heard that they had strayed from the message he preached to them. St. Paul was a real father to them.”
After citing several passages from St. Paul’s Letters, the Archbishop adds, “It has been a great joy for me to come to know St. Paul in this way. As a missionary, as a priest, as bishop, St. Paul has so much to teach me.”
Telling his experience, Archbishop Smith exhorts the faithful of Solomon Islands, on the eve of the inauguration of the Pauline Year: “Take out your Bible and read again the letters of St. Paul. Pay special attention to his personal remarks to his readers. If you can do this, then I am sure that you too will fall in love with the great St. Paul,” a saint who, “loved those who with him have found faith in Christ Jesus.” For St. Paul, the text concludes, “to lead another to faith in Christ Jesus is to build up a relationship of love, concern, and commitment to our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.”
The entire Catholic community of the Solomon Islands, nearly 90,000 faithful present in the three dioceses of Honiara, Auki, and Gizo, are now called to know, rediscover, penetrate, and love the person and writings of Saint Paul, in communion with the Universal Church. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 12/6/2008)


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