Celebrating the Pauline Year: Paul, the Missionary (Part II)

“If I preach the Gospel, this is no reason for me to boast, for an obligation has been imposed in me and woe to me if I do not preach it.” (1 Corinthians 9:16)

Paul the Christian hater became Paul the indefatigable, dedicated, indeed, compulsive, preacher and missionary. As the Church continues to celebrate the work of Paul in this “Pauline Year,” the time is right to keep Paul in brilliant focus in the minds and hearts of our children. The following paragraphs offer background information on the preaching and missionary work of Paul and suggest ways to inspire children to follow his example.

We would like an accurate and complete biography of the great apostle, but the challenge of writing such a treatise is probably insurmountable. Our primary sources of information about Paul are his own letters and Luke’s description of his conversion and ministry in Acts. The two sources, however, do not always agree; there have been valiant, but not completely successful, scholarly attempts to resolve the conflicts. The difficulty in establishing exactly which of the traditionally Pauline letters are genuinely Paul’s and even the puzzles in the letters definitely from Paul’s own hand complicate the problem. Tell older children that Pauline research is a lively pursuit; perhaps one (or more!) of them will become a fine Pauline scholar.

Paul’s Ministry as a Christian
For our purposes, the following is a workable sketch of Paul’s ministry as a Christian. After his conversion and apparently a period of relative solitude in “Arabia” (perhaps the Nabatean desert), Paul spent some time in Jerusalem learning his new faith from the leaders of the young Church and then began his own missionary work. A dispute soon arose over the issue of whether all Christians, like the original followers of Jesus, had to be good Jews in order to be good follows of Christ; a concrete example of the problem was the question of whether male Christians had to be circumcised. Paul and the leaders of the Jerusalem community made the decision not to require full observance of the law of Moses; details of the decision are disputed. Furthermore, Paul was to devote himself to ministry among the non-Jewish people, that is, the Gentiles, of the great Roman Empire. For further study of this, read Acts 15 and Galatians 2. Paul continued his enthusiastic ministry, traveling even more extensively than before, as Acts so vividly describes.

Lessons of Paul during Advent and Christmas
Children’s liturgy of the word provides no time for a detailed biography of Paul—religion teachers have the advantage here; but leaders of children’s liturgy can incorporate pieces of the material when introducing readings from the Pauline letters. The Sundays and feasts of the Advent and Christmas seasons give us readings this year from letters of Paul, or at least the Pauline school, to the Corinthians, Thessalonians, Romans, Titus (in Crete), Galatians and Ephesians, which list alone hints at the scope of Paul’s missionary activity. Use a map to illustrate the extent of Paul’s travels. Let the children comment on the incredible breadth of his journeying in an age when travel was difficult beyond words by our standards. Older children will love Paul’s summary description of the hardships he faced in his work (2 Corinthians 11:23–28). There is some indication that Paul intended to travel to Spain in the far western reaches of the Empire, but the intrepid missionary came first to martyrdom in Rome.

Children in Paul’s Missionary Journeys
There are many possibilities for helping children internalize the missionary activity of Paul. Draw a Jerusalem cross and explain that it symbolizes (among other interpretations) the spread of the four Gospels to the four corners of the earth. Give out a handout with the cross, perhaps on heavy paper in the shape of a bookmarker for the children to use in their bibles. Show older children how to fold and cut a Jerusalem cross from paper. Invite children who have traveled widely to tell about places they have visited. Hunt through the beautiful magazine published monthly by Maryknoll for stories of contemporary missionaries. (For information on the mission of the Maryknoll society, their new classroom program and articles from the magazine see http://tinyurl.com/5f3j9g. Pray for the spread of the Gospel to all these places. Pray in thanksgiving for missionaries; pray that God will inspire many more Christians to devote their lives to proclaiming God’s good news. Pray that in our interaction with our friends we will preach gently by our loving, caring conversation and example. Organize a collection during Advent of children’s Bibles to give to a needy Church school or day-care center (Catholic or not). Urge parents to include reading Bible stories in their daily reading to their children. Urge them to give their children age-appropriate Bibles for Christmas. With more time create a board game of Paul’s successes and setbacks in his travels. Create a set of processional banners or flags that show a Jerusalem cross, a sword and a laurel wreath, and a scroll. Decorate the children’s gathering space with the banners; better yet, hang them outside the church for the remainder of the Pauline Year. Use the banners in procession on special occasions.

One Body, Many Parts
The great feast of Epiphany, perhaps more than any other feast of the year, gives wonderful opportunity to bring home the conviction dear to Paul that the will of God will find fulfillment only in the salvation of both Jews and Gentiles. The readings from Isaiah and Matthew make clear that the gift of God to the world that we celebrate on Epiphany is a priceless Jewish treasure, and “Paul” (Ephesians may very well not be genuinely Pauline) states that the Gentiles are “co-heirs,” “members of the same body,” “co-partners” with his beloved Jewish people. Neither group is superior to the other; rather, each contributes to the universal adoration due the Lord. Pray on Epiphany not only for the spread of the Gospel, but also that our dear Jewish brothers and sisters, “the first to hear the word of God” and the people through whom that cherished word has come to us, “will continue to grow in love of [God’s] name and faithfulness to [God’s] covenant” (Good Friday Intercession VI).

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Mary Catherine Berglund has advanced degrees in Scripture and liturgy. She is an experienced teacher, and has ministered with children in the Liturgy of the Word in Richmond, Virginia, for many years. She is married and has three grown children. Dr. Berglund is the author of OCP’s series of books on the Children’s Liturgy of the Word, Gather the Children: Celebrate the Word with Ideas, Activities, and Prayer (www.ocp.org/products/6133).