Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament

May 5, 2026

Paul of Tarsus has been called the Apostle of the Gentiles, and for good reason. After his conversion on the road to Damascus from Saul, the hardline Jew, to peripatetic Paul, the Christian missionary, he traveled thousands of miles by land and sea to spread the Good News throughout large parts of Western Asia and Europe. Today’s passage from Acts narrates Paul’s first journey (at least the return half), including seven major towns and two regions, Pisidia and Pamphylia. (There are actually two different Antiochs in this story: Antioch in Pisidia –central Asia – a destination for Paul, in the first line, and Antioch near the end of the tale: Paul’s ‘home base’ in a port city near the Mediterranean.)

There were successes and setbacks on the trip. Paul left home – Antioch on the Mediterranean, and headed for Antioch in Pisidia, preaching and proselytizing on the way, then to Iconium and Lystra. But he had made some deadly enemies among the Jewish elites in the synagogues. They followed him, incited a mob, and stoned him to death (they thought), dumping his body outside of Lystra. But God still had work for him, and when his disciples gathered around the body, he regained consciousness, and they escaped to Derbe. There they turned around and very carefully retraced their steps to the coast, found a ship, and returned to Antioch – home base.

Saint Peter Julian so longed to spend his priestly life as a missionary to “set the world on fire” with the Good News of the Holy Eucharist and the Eucharistic kingdom to come! Fragile health prevented him from “carrying the torch” in this way, so the light and the fire come to us. How may we ignite our own little ‘patch’ of the world in the footsteps of Paul and Peter Julian?

Let us pray:

Dear God, ignite in us the fire of your love, that we may spread the Word of the Holy Eucharist and the Eucharistic kingdom to come everywhere. Amen.