Daily Meditations on St Paul

Written by the Augustinian Bishop Michael Campbell, this is a handy pocket-sized book of ‘reflections, meditations and prayers’ intended ‘to lead the believer into a deeper understanding and appreciation of this truly remarkable apostle’ – to spend ‘a month with St Paul’ as the author puts it.
The book is divided into 31 days, each comprising a short quotation from scripture (eg. Day 21. ‘The Son of God whom we preached among you, Jesus Christ: He is the ‘yes’ to all God’s promises.’ 2 Corinthians 1:19-20) followed by a thought, reflection or meditation (usually only two or three paragraphs) and a brief prayer.

In the first day’s reflection, the Conversion of St Paul, Bishop Campbell observes that ‘Paul had come to realise that Christ was alive and reigning in glory with God the Father. He further understood that to do violence to the followers of Christ was to perpetrate violence on Christ himself’. ‘This reflects Christ’s own teaching in the gospel, when he declares that whatever is done to one his brothers and sisters is in fact done to him (Matthew 25:31-46)’.

How relevant to the modern world is that! But then this is a book for the modern world, an insightful and challenging book for busy people, and a book well worth spending a few minutes with each day.

Brian Dowd

This book is available from www.stpauls.org.uk priced £6.99