Year of St Paul Since you have been brought back to true life with Christ, you must look for Pope Benedict XVI has declared June 2008 the letter to the the things that are in heaven, where – June 2009 a Year of St Paul in celebra- Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand. tion of the 2000th anniversary of the apos- Colossians tle’s birth. It is reckoned that St Paul was Let your thoughts be on heavenly born between 7 – 10 a.d. The Holy Father things, not on the things that are on the explained that: earth, because you have died, and now the life you have is hidden with Christ ‘The Apostle of the Gentiles, who ded- Let the message of Christ, icated himself to the spreading of the in God. But when Christ is revealed— good news to all peoples, spent him- and he is your life— you too will be in all its richness, self for the unity and harmony of all revealed in all your glory with him. find a home with you. Colossians 3:1–4 Christians. May he guide us and pro- Teach each other, tect us in this bimillenary celebration, and advise each other, in all wisdom. helping us to advance in the humble With gratitude in your hearts and sincere search for the full unity of sing psalms and hymns all the members of the mystical body and inspired songs to God; of Christ.’ raise to you,• and never say or do anything This series of leaflets offers a brief intro- the God and Father except in the name of the Lord , duction to the letters of St Paul as heard of our Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father who in your great mercy at Sunday Mass. They are intended both P through him for readers and members of the litur- have given us new birth and hope Colossians 3:16–17 gical assembly to help them appreciate through the power of Christ’s resurrection. the context of the second reading and Through the prayers of the apostle Paul encourage a greater familiarity with St may we who have received this faith Paul’s writings. through their preaching share their joy in following the Lord to the unfading inheritance The letter to •the Colossians reserved for us in heaven. in the Sunday Lectionary Roman Missal The letter is proclaimed over Sundays 2008–2009 15–18 in Year C. Excerpts from The Jerusalem © 1966 Darton, Liturgy Longman and Todd. Prayer © International Commission on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with Officepermission. Ye a r o f The introduction to the text was written by Nicholas King E NGLAND sj. This leaflet is one of series to mark theYear of St Paul & W ALES prepared by the Liturgy Office, 39 Eccleston Square, London SW1V 1PL © 2008 Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England St Pa u l and Wales. www.liturgyoffice.org.uk/Resources/Scripture St Paul’s letter to the Colossians Colossians is a mysterious letter, and one (see 2:16); but it is very hard to are reminded that they are to ‘work for the of the loveliest in the Pauline corpus. reconstruct it with any precision. There Lord, and not for human beings; be slaves There are those who feel that it could not was something to do with ‘food and drink of the Lord Christ’. That means, of course, have been written by Paul, but sometimes and in respect of festivals or new moon that their slave-owners cannot possibly be it seems that this is because they find it ‘a or Sabbath’, which may suggest that Paul’s their ‘lords’; so Paul is deliberately playing bit too Catholic’. If we are reading it in the opponents represent some kind of Jewish on this word when he tells them, ‘“Lords”, Christian community, we need not worry group. More interesting to us, perhaps, as give your slaves what is just and equitable, too much about questions of authorship. we watch him struggling with their difficul- knowing that you people have a Lord in Just read it. ties, is how Paul solves problems. Again and heaven’. Once you have listened properly As always, it starts with ‘Paul’, not as a mark again he comes back to his beloved Jesus to these words, you cannot sit comfortably of Pauline arrogance, but because that is the Christ. So he tells them (2:18) ‘the body with the idea that the husband, the parent, entirely practical manner in which letters belongs to Christ’, or starts an argument and the slave-master are always right. In started in the ancient world, ‘an apostle of with ‘if you have died with Christ’ (2:20), ‘if , all members are equal before Christ Jesus’. Characteristically it goes on to you have been raised with Christ’ (3:1); he the Lord. give thanks, in this case for the Corinthians prays ‘let the peace of Christ referee in your The letter then concludes with the usual faith and love and hope (1:4-5). Then (9-14) hearts’ (3:9) and ‘let the message of Christ exhortations and greetings; but notice he prays for them to grow in faith, which dwell richly in you’. that Paul insists on prayer (4:2-4), and on leads into the well-known hymn to Christ That may be the clue to the ‘household proper relationship with outsiders. Chris- (15-20). Oddly enough, it may be that this code’ which follows (3:18-4:1). A good tians have to live on two planes, the rela- was a hymn originally coming from pre- many readers shift uneasily when they tionship with God and with Christ, and Christian sources, possibly in Colossae read all that stuff about ‘women, be subor- the relationship with those who are not itself, and that it has been ‘baptised’, to dinated to the men… children, obey your Christians. And make sure that you read insist on the importance of Jesus. As it parents in every respect… slaves obey the list of names (4:7-18); for at this point stands it is a beautiful meditation on Jesus your “lords”’. They fear that Paul is giving you can get a feel of what it was like to be as the pivot on which, first, God’s creation his consent to a tyranny of the strong over a Christian in those far-off days, as various of the world, and, second, God’s reconcili- the weak. But notice that in fact he subtly bits of information about those who are no ation of the world, turned. So it is a song undermines any pretensions to unques- more than names to us remind us of how about who Jesus is, and what God has done tioned authority. Husbands are instructed very much they cared for each other, even in him, and, not least, Christ’s headship of to ‘love (!) [your] wives and not get bitter when things were difficult. Christianity ‘the body, the Church’. against them’. Parents are told ‘not to is for real people, living in the real world, One of the difficulties of Colossians is that provoke your children, so that they don’t and searching for that elusive God who has it looks as though some kind of doctrinal get depressed’. And slave-owners will shift spoken to us in Jesus Christ. aberration had been going on there in uneasily in their seats in church as the slaves