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PAUL: a companion on life’s journeyBy Fr. Martin HoganSincere thanks to Fr. Martin Hogan, PC for this discerning article on St. Paul. Fr. Martin is a lecturer inScripture in Mater Dei Institute of Education, a well-known scripture scholar and is a priest in the Dublindiocese. I welcome the breadth of understanding which he demonstrates here in relation to St. Paul.SYLLABUS LINKLEAVING CERTIFICATESECTION BTOPIC 4.1The first Christiancommunities as seenthrough one of the writingsof Paul.JUNIOR CERTIFICATESECTION APART 3Communities of Faith.PART 5Faith in Christ.We all need companions. We needpeople to walk with us on ourjourney through life. I am sure mostof us could think of people whosecompanionship has made atremendous difference to our lives.They may have been there when weneeded advice or direction, or whenwe needed someone just to listen tous. They may have been there torejoice with us in good times and toreceive our pain in difficult times.They shared something of their liveswith us and allowed us to sharesomething of our lives with them.Barnabas was a companion of Paul,especially in the very early years ofPaul’s life as a believer in Christ.Barnabas was known as someonewho had a great gift for givingencouragement to others. It iswonderful to meet people in lifewho encourage us, people whosupport and build up what is best inus, who open up doors for us andhelp us to use our gifts and abilitiesto the full.These are people who areinterested in us for our own sakes,not for what we can give them.Barnabas was that kind of a person.He gave great encouragement toPaul. At a time when Paul wassomewhat isolated in the earlychurch, Barnabas opened up a doorfor him. Early on in Paul’s life as abeliever, Barnabas brought him fromTarsus, his native city, to the city ofAntioch, where the church was justbeginning to take off (Acts11:25-26). Barnabas could see thatthe church in Antioch would be theperfect place for Paul to use his gifts.Paul would be good for the churchin Antioch, and the church therewould be good for Paul. Barnabasturned out to be absolutely right.Paul went on to become animportant teacher in the church ofAntioch, and the church of Antiochbecame a spiritual home to Paul formany years. The church of Antiochcame to regard Paul so highly thatthey sent him out on mission, alongwith Barnabas, to bring the gospel toplaces where it had not yet beenpreached (Acts 13:1-3).This was thebeginning of Paul’s missionary work,the first of his great missionarytravels.As a result of these travels, hebrought the gospel to Cyprus, and,eventually, throughout modern dayTurkey and Greece. It was Barnabaswho took that first step which madeall this possible, bringing Paul fromTarsus to Antioch. Barnabas wasindeed a wonderful companion toPaul, creating that initial opening forhim that turned out to be life-givingfor so many other people.If Barnabas was Paul’s companion inthe first few years of Paul’smissionary work, Paul had othercompanions in subsequent years.One of Paul’s great companions inthe years after his initialcompanionship with Barnabas wasTimothy. In one of his letters, hisletter to the Philippians, Paul shareshow much Timothy meant to him.He tells the church in Philippi,‘I hopein the Lord Jesus to sendTimothy toyou soon… I have no one like him…like a son with a father he has servedwith me in the work of the gospel’(Phil 2:20-22). Timothy was acompanion, a co-worker, of Paul, formuch of Paul’s missionary travels. Hewas clearly someone that Paulcherished greatly. Paul had severalother companions and co-workerswhom he greatly valued.A Christianmarried couple called Priscilla andAquila were a great support to Paul.He met them for the first time whenhe arrived in the city of Corinth topreach the gospel.They had recentlycome from Rome to Corinth, wherethey gave Paul hospitality in theirhome (Acts 18:1-3). From then onthey supported him in all kinds ofways. This married couplesubsequently returned to the churchin Rome.When Paul was writing hisletter to the Romans towards theend of his life, he makes reference tothem. He says to the church inRome, ‘Greet Priscilla and Aquila,who work with me in Christ Jesus,and who risked their necks for mylife, to whom not only I give thanks,but also all the churches of theGentiles’ (Rom 16:3). Here werecompanions who were prepared tolay down their lives for Paul. In hisletter to the Philippians Paulmentions two women who, he says,‘have struggled beside me in thework of the gospel’ (Phil 4:2-3). Paulvalued and appreciated men andwomen who joined him ascompanions and co-workers in thepreaching and living of the gospel.When Paul was denied suchcompanionship, he felt it deeply.Towards the end of his life, as hewaited in a Roman prison, he sent aletter back to his co-workerTimothy.In that letter Paul writes, ‘Do yourbest to come to me soon, forDemas, in love with this presentworld, has deserted me and gone toThessalonica; Crescens has gone toGalatia,Titus to Dalmatia. Only Lukeis with me’ (2 Tim 4:9-11). A fewverses later he says, ‘At my firstdefence no one came to mysupport, but all deserted me. May itnot be counted against them!’ (2Tim4:16). We can almost feel theemotional pain in Paul’s words here.It seems that just as Jesus wasdeserted by his closest associates ashe faced into his passion and death,so too Paul was deserted by many10 TEACHING RELIGIOUS EDUCATION ISSUE FOUR SEPTEMBER 2009