Dear Saul,<\/p>\n
I am surprised and pleased that you have already received your first promotion.\u00a0 Is it some kind of a record or something?\u00a0 Promoted after only six weeks on the job\u2026\u00a0 Obviously, someone there has an eye for talent.\u00a0 I am sure this is only the first step in what will turn out to be a steady rise to more and more responsibility, whether in this company or another.\u00a0 My only fear is how you will avoid the devil\u2019s traps as you climb the ladder.\u00a0 You know that he is a smart cookie (we\u2019ve gone over this before), and so when he wants to have an impact (which he always does) he goes right to the leaders.\u00a0 Clearly you are on the leadership track, and so you can bet he will be paying special attention to you.\u00a0 This doesn\u2019t mean you need to be afraid.\u00a0 Neither does it mean you should hold back your professional advancement.\u00a0 Not at all.\u00a0 Just be ready, that\u2019s all.\u00a0 Remembering today\u2019s saints can show you how.<\/p>\n
Of course, I don\u2019t need to remind you of the biographies of Peter and Paul.\u00a0 Peter was a fisherman from Galilee in northern Palestine (the equivalent of being a farmer from Iowa in our days), and Paul was a prodigious young rabbi from Tarsus (the equivalent \u2013 roughly \u2013 of a yuppie from Manhattan).\u00a0 Jesus recruited Peter into his band of Twelve Apostles at the very beginning of his public ministry and made him the leader of the group.\u00a0 Jesus recruited Paul only after the resurrection and ascension, transforming the fiery Pharisee into a tireless Apostle who traversed the entire Mediterranean world planting Churches.\u00a0 Both of these saints eventually made their way to Rome (Peter voluntarily, Paul as a prisoner), the capital of the world at the time.<\/p>\n
When the first wave of persecution broke out against the Christians (Nero was Emperor at the time, you will recall), the authorities, who were smart, just like the devil, had a very shrewd strategy: they went after the leaders first.\u00a0 Peter was the Bishop of Rome, and Paul was the most famous of the Apostles after Peter, so both were earmarked for extermination.\u00a0 Peter ended up being crucified upside down in Nero\u2019s Circus (located where the Vatican Basilica is today) \u2013 he was crucified upside down because he didn\u2019t feel worthy to be executed in the same manner Jesus had been \u2013 and Paul was taken outside of the city (Roman citizens were not permitted to be executed inside the city walls), where he was beheaded.\u00a0 His severed head bounced three times and opened three small fountains of spring water, one with each bounce.\u00a0 You can visit the tombs of both to this day (and the fountains).<\/p>\n
But of course you knew all that (though it\u2019s nice to recall it every once in a while).\u00a0 And so I ask you, do you know how these two men \u2013 normal, everyday men, just like yourself; they weren\u2019t from Krypton \u2013 kept the faith, even amidst the decades of hardship they had to endure, even amidst the tortures of martyrdom?\u00a0 Can you tell me how they did it?<\/p>\n
I could tell you, but I\u2019m not going to.\u00a0 I think you should discover it on your own \u2013 if you do, it will have a lot more meaning for you and a lot greater effect.\u00a0 And it\u2019s not too hard to do.\u00a0 Start with reading over once again the Acts of the Apostles, but keeping in mind this single question: what gave Peter and Paul their strength to be so faithful?\u00a0 Then read Peter\u2019s Letters (there\u2019re only two, and they\u2019re short), trying to answer the same question by reading between the lines.\u00a0 Then do the same with St Paul\u2019s Letters \u2013 read them straight through, in chronological order (not the order in which they appear in the Bible), and look not so much for Paul\u2019s doctrine, but for glimpses of his inner life, of what made him the pillar of the Church that he was.\u00a0 Don\u2019t rush, spread out the reading, take your time.<\/p>\n
If you do this, I guarantee that you\u2019ll be amply armed for the battles that, without a doubt, you will have to wage in order to be faithful to Christ at the heights of leadership.<\/p>\n
Your loving uncle,<\/p>\n
Eddy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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