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St. Paul
The Spirit’s Sword
Growing up Catholic, I looked at the Bible a lot. Note the verb in that previous sentence—Ilooked at the Bible a lot. It was thepicture Bible we had in my house growing up, and thepictures got a lot of looks—the words? Not so much.
It sat on the third shelf of the bookcase in our family room. Rarely did it come down off that shelf for prayer as, again, we were Catholic and (unfortunately) weren’t in the habit of reading the Bible with any regularity. It did come off the shelf for entertainment, however, because the pictures thoroughly intrigued me.
A Picture Is Worth More Than a Thousand Words
There was one picture in particular that always held my attention, even at only seven or eight years old, calledThe Martyrdom of St. Paul. A quick examination of our family Bible would have shown this to be the picture that got the most looks. The spine was so bent in that particular place that when one opened the hard cover, the book almost naturally flipped open right to this picture.
In it, St. Paul was kneeling as his Roman executioner wielded a sword in the air, just moments before Paul would lose his head. He was being martyred as the final witness to a life spent serving God. The picture also depicted the presence of an angel, unseen by the Roman soldier but offering visible confirmation of God’s presence during a moment of evil’s suspected triumph.
The artwork was incredible: The colors were vibrant, the figures passionate.
And the truth of it was impossible to ignore. Truth takes hold of one’s soul and subconsciousness in ways one might not realize in the moment but might reflect on for years to come. Little did I know that, to this day, when I would hear the wordmartyrdom, this picture would instinctively be the first image that rushed to my mind.
At the time, I had no concept of who St. Paul was or what he did. I certainly had no idea why he was being beheaded. I was just a normal little kid, and swords (and later, light sabers) caught my attention. The picture was engaging to my innocent eyes; it drew me in. Years later, I discovered the p
