Tag: thewordofthecrossstpaulinus

Thought for the Day – 22 June – The Memorial of St Paulinus of Nola (c 354-431)

Of him, Pope Benedict XVI said:

“In our catechesis on the great teachers of the early Church, we now turn to Saint Paulinus, the Bishop of Nola in southern Italy.
A native of Bordeaux in Gaul, Paulinus became the Roman governor of Campania, where, after encountering the depth of popular devotion to Saint Felix Martyr, he was led to embrace the Christian faith.   After the tragic loss of their first child, he and his wife sold their goods and undertook a life of chastity and prayer.
Ordained a priest and then Bishop of Nola, Paulinus distinguished himself by his charity to the poor during the troubled times of the barbarian invasions.
A man of letters and a gifted poet, Paulinus placed his art at the service of Christ and the Church. In his poetry and his vast correspondence, Paulinus expressed his deep faith and his love of the poor.   

His letters to such contemporary churchmen as Saints Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome and Martin of Tours, reflect his asceticism, his deep sense of the Church’s communion and his cultivation of the practice of spiritual friendship as a means of experiencing that communion within the mystery of Christ’s mystical Body, enlivened by the Holy Spirit.”

Many of us are tempted to “retire” early in life, after an initial burst of energy.   Devotion to Christ and His work is waiting to be done all around us.   Paulinus’ life had scarcely begun when he thought it was over, as he took his ease on that estate in Spain.   “Man proposes, but God disposes.”

The life of Saint Paulinus is one of great accomplishments and positions—none more important than those which began with his baptism into the faith.   As with all baptism, Paulinus was made anew, filled with the Holy Spirit and through this rebirth, was able to devote himself to the holy work of God, serving others and bringing many to the faith. Today, we pray for a renewal of our own baptismal promise, awake and alive in our faith!

The Word of the Cross

by Saint Paulinus of Nola

Look on thy God, Christ hidden in our flesh.
A bitter word, the cross, and bitter sight:
Hard rind without, to hold the heart of heaven.
Yet sweet it is; for God upon that tree
Did offer up His life: upon that rood
My Life hung, that my life might stand in God.
Christ, what am I to give Thee for my life?
Unless take from Thy hands the cup they hold,
To cleanse me with the precious draught of death.
What shall I do? My body to be burned?
Make myself vile? The debt’s not paid out yet.
Whate’er I do, it is but I and Thou,
And still do I come short, still must Thou pay
My debts, O Christ;  for debts Thyself hadst none.
What love may balance Thine? My Lord was found
In fashion like a slave, that so His slave
Might find himself in fashion like his Lord.
Think you the bargain’s hard, to have exchanged
The transient for the eternal, to have sold
Earth to buy Heaven? More dearly God bought me.

St Paulinus of Nola, Pray for us!