A journey through Paul

In deaconate formation, we've had a number of very special instructors who are holy people and who have a heart for the Church, and many of these people have had a deep influence on me personally and on my spiritual growth. I feel it would be wrong to say that I have a favorite, since I believe that each such person has a special gift that they bring to help us in our formation. This month, however, I was moved by a very special instructor and his devotion to the Scriptures, especially to St. Paul.

Father Andreas Hoeck is the Dean of Faculty at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in the Archdiocese of Denver. His plane was late in arriving because of the weather, which initially turned out to be good for us since members of the formation class had a long-overdue discussion about where we all are in terms of discerning our call. I later told Father Andreas that his uncontrollable tardiness had a purpose for us, and without it we could not have had a much needed time of sharing.

I think I learned more about Paul and his writing this previous weekend then I have ever previously known or been taught, and St. Paul is one of my favorite figures from Scripture and Church history. Father Andreas pointed out, for example, that while we speak of Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus, Paul doesn't seem to speak of it that way. Paul would likely have thought of his experience on the road as a kind of correction from God, and his acceptance of and willingness to preach the Good News of Jesus as a continuation of his being a good Jew. After all if Jesus is the Messiah, Paul would be a poor Jew if he didn't accept that reality if he knew it to be true. Father Andreas also pointed out to us that Paul was very proud of his Israelite heritage-he spent a good part of Romans (Chapter 10 and part of 11) dealing with the issue of the salvation of Israel.

Without dwelling too much on the mystery of it, we also talked about Paul's discussion of the Man of Lawlessness, the Son of Perdition (2 Thess. 2:2-5), commonly called the Antichrist (CCC 675-677), which would have been very alarming to the Greco-Roman audience to which Paul was writing-a society where the law and its protections meant everything.

I think what impressed me most about Father Andreas was the humble and holy way in which he carries himself. He doesn't just teach the Scriptures, he has a real reverence for them and that shows in the way that he presents them. His love for Our Lord comes pouring out of every word of his mouth. His love for the Eucharist shines through when watching the way that celebrates Mass.

We increasingly hear bad news about the Church in the secular (and even sometimes the Catholic) press, but it is when I meet prayerful and zealous clergy like Father Andreas and others that I know that whatever happens, the Church will both survive and thrive because of the prayers and work of holy people who often do God's business in this world in an unassuming and relatively quiet way. Clergy like this not only preach the Good News, they are good news.