The Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, was clearly guiding St. Paul as he made his way through Athens and then confidently stood up and spoke in the Areopagus, the main stage.
Just to set the scene, Paul had entered a city that contained the greatest minds of Greece—men and women who were not Jewish or Christian, but pagan. And he, Paul, was not a man of learning, but a tentmaker by trade. Paul stood there without the benefit of rhetorical training and addressed eminent rulers, mathematicians, philosophers, scientists, and writers in a courtroom-like setting.
He started by telling them that they were very religious in every respect, and highlighted their altar, titled, “To an Unknown God.” This was his opening. For all their accomplishments in so many fields of study, their weakness was Paul’s strength. He knew their unknown God, and began to preach about Him, saying, “What you unknowingly worship, I proclaim to you, the God who made the world and all that is in it.”
For all their accomplishments in learning, writing, ruling, and producing manmade structures, they did not possess what Paul had: a personal knowledge of God. If this sounds familiar, it should. Throughout history, there have been intelligent, powerful, and wealthy people who did not know God or chose to acknowledge Him. Instead, they made their professions, wealth, power, popularity, or even pursuit of youth, their gods.
Paul preached to them about the Creator of the world and everything in it—the One who sustains life and orders all that surrounds us.
Searching for God
Paul must have believed that the Athenians' search for understanding about the natural world and the meaning of life would lead them to seek God, when he said that God “… fixed the ordered seasons and the boundaries of their regions so that people might seek Him, even perhaps grope for him.”
Whether you are searching for God in your life today, or trying to lead others to Him, St. Paul offers us hope. His testimony of how Jesus revealed Himself reminds us that God has a one-to-one relationship with each of us. And not only does Jesus know us, but He also has the power to show us the right way to walk in our lives.
Faith Into Action
In addition, St. Paul is a role model for putting our faith into action to help others know and love God. As we all know, sharing our faith can be daunting for many reasons, but St. Paul is inspired and led by the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, as he shares the gift of faith with those who need to hear his message.
By our Baptism and Confirmation, we possess that same Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit … how is God leading us and calling us to share our faith today?
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