God in his mercy deprived him of sight

because of his previous shortsightedness, in order to improve his subsequent vision.

St. John Chrysostom

Paul, most humble himself

and in all that concerned him, was likewise most noble and sublime in all that concerned Christ and the glory of God.


Cornelius a Lapide, SJ
The Personality of St. Paul

Paul lives the life of Christ crucified;

in Christ he dies, yearning to be dissolved and to be with Him.


Igino Giordani
St. Paul, Apostle and Martyr

I give you as a model

the charity of Paul which he showed to his new converts...

St. John Bosco

Paul was small

of body and short. He was a bit bent or bowed down. Hos face was splendid and made him look older than he really was...

Nicephorus

St. Paul was not transformed

by a thought but by an event, by the irresistible presence of the Risen One, whom he could never again doubt, so strong had been the evidence of the event, of that encounter.

Pope Benedict XVI

Let us pray

that the Lord, who made Paul see his light and hear his word and touched his heart profoundly, make us also see his light...

Pope Benedict XVI

Paul was the nobles of men

and the most outstanding example of the nobility of human nature and of its possibilities for virtue.

St. John Chrysostom

[Paul's] long martyrdom

consisted of never-ending dangers, tribulations, and persecutions, which he himself enumerated.

Cornelius a Lapide, SJ

As though he were the father

of the whole world, [Paul] struggled unceasingly to steer all into the kingdom of God.

St. John Chrysostom

Since, then, charity is the beginning and the end,

and the sum of blessings, let us imitate Paul in this respect. For charity was the secret of his sanctity.


St. John Chrysostom

To the one who loves St. Paul,

he does not appear as a stern wielder of the sword, but as the most ardent and tender person ever to love Christ.

Bl. James Alberione

The heart of Paul

is the heart of Christ; the word of Paul is the word Christ speaks through him.... He carries Christ to others, and gives himself wholly to the life of Christ.


Igino Giordani
St. Paul, Apostle and Martyr

At other times

he showed a real feeling for them that was not only paternal but also maternal, such as when he turned to those he was addressing, calling them: "My little children, with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you" (Gal 4: 19).

Pope Benedict XVI

After his encounter

with the Risen Christ... Paul could not continue to live as he did before. Now he felt invested by the Lord with the charge to proclaim his Gospel as an apostle.

Pope Benedict XVI

We must not think

that Paul locked himself blindly in an event. In reality, the opposite occurred, because the risen Christ is the light of truth, the light of God himself. This enlarged his heart, and opened it to all.

Pope Benedict XVI

Captivated by [Paul's] words,

those who warred on him quickly became fuel to this fire of the Holy Spirit, so that through them the word spread further and reached others.

St. John Chrysostom

[Paul was]

the rhetorician of Christ, the fisherman of the world who, by means of fourteen letters, real spiritual nets, draws the world to salvation.


St. John Chrysostom

Having been taken up to heaven,

[Paul] seemed an angel from above, sent by God to recall people to heaven.


Cornelius a Lapide, SJ

The apostle also shares

in the destiny of appearing as 'a stumbling block' and 'foolishness,' and Paul knows it; this is the experience of his life.

Pope Benedict XVI

Just acquire Paul's charity

and you will acquire the crown of perfection.

St. John Chrysostom

He is humble

and he can be sarcastic; he is tender and also terrible. When in anguish, he recommends joyfulness. He passes from the dizzy heights of mysticism to scorching invectives...

Igino Giordani
St. Paul, Apostle and Martyr

All that Paul does,

all that he teaches, he does as anotehr Christ. He is engaged in an intense drama with Christ for the center.

Igino Giordani
St. Paul, Apostle and Martyr

We never find in Paul

any merely destructive criticism. There is reproof, never bitter resignation. His apostolic transfiguration, by God's gift, enables him always to see the good things first.


Carlo Cardinal Martini
The Testimony of St. Paul

Such was his longing for Christ

that he wanted to defer his reward and remain amid the struggle; those were his priorities.

St. John Chrysostom
Homily 2 in Praise of St. Paul