It always makes me feel sad when I read St Paul saying: "At my first defense no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them" (2 Tim 4: 16) How would we have remembered St Paul if we had only his letters and not the Acts of the Apostles? St Paul was a failure and it looked as if all that he had worked for had turned to dust. We are used to thinking of Our Lord as suffering with the disaster of Good Friday but we are habituated to the glory of Easter Sunday. There was no resurrection for St Paul and the Martyrs of Rome. They died hideous and painful deaths. Yet, here we are in 2022. The Roman Empire is long gone and Nero is a byword for depravity and cruelty while millions of Christians are inspired by and continue to study the writings of St Paul. In addition, we continue to pray to the saints, St Paul included, to spur us on in our own spiritual battles. Let us, therefore, be encouraged by the sufferings and faith of the saints and commit ourselves to work faithfully for the Lord until the end.
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