Tag Archives: spiritual fatherhood

Reading through the letters of S. John

The first letter we have of S. John’s is not a very long letter at all, and has many features from the Gospel of Saint John, such as the theology of light and dark, good and evil and attachment to Christ. It is marvellously black and white, the constant theme being that if you loveContinue reading “Reading through the letters of S. John”

Reading through the letter (of S. Paul) to the Hebrews

Almost twenty years ago, the Holy Father Benedict XVI named 2009-2010 as a Year of Priests, which was crucial for its time, because it created a great enthusiasm among young gentlemen, and for a time the seminaries began to fill up, and the priesthood received a renewed focus especially on social media. After the ongoingContinue reading “Reading through the letter (of S. Paul) to the Hebrews”

Reading through the letter of S. Paul to Philemon

Coming to the end of the Pauline corpus of the New Testament, i.e. the set of letters that we have in the New Testament that are traditionally attributed to Saint Paul, the second to last (or the last, if as scholars tend to do today you discount the letter to the Hebrews) is the ratherContinue reading “Reading through the letter of S. Paul to Philemon”

Reading through the second letter of S. Paul to S. Timothy

Paul comes off brilliantly in this letter to Saint Timothy, the second one to that bishop of Ephesus that we have in the New Testament. This is certainly my favourite of all his surviving letters for its brevity and its completeness as a note of encouragement and instruction to Saint Timothy, his beloved disciple and son,Continue reading “Reading through the second letter of S. Paul to S. Timothy”

Reading through the first letter of S. Paul to S. Timothy

This most touching letter of Saint Paul to one of his first bishops, after Saint Timothy had been given the care of the See of Ephesus, provides a short series of counsels for an infant church, establishing basic practices and providing counsel to the new bishop and the priests under him. I should begin withContinue reading “Reading through the first letter of S. Paul to S. Timothy”

Reading through the first letter of S. Paul to the Thessalonians

On a typical map, we can see the geographical position of Thessalonika or Salonika, a natural port and harbour, and in a central position in the Greek mainland – a crucial city today, as it was in the days of Saint Paul. There was undoubtedly a large Jewish population there, with a synagogue and everythingContinue reading “Reading through the first letter of S. Paul to the Thessalonians”

Reading through S. Paul’s letter to the Philippians

Philippi was one of the great cities of Roman Macedonia in Saint Paul’s time, sitting, as you can see by zooming in and out of the Google Map above, on the ancient Via Egnatia, the Roman Road joining Greek Kavalla on the Aegian Sea to Albanian Durres on the Adriatic. Philippi was a Roman colony,Continue reading “Reading through S. Paul’s letter to the Philippians”