Memorial of Saint Philip Neri
May 26, 2023
Daily Reading from the USCCB: Acts 25:13b-21
Paul has been brought before the Roman governor Festus in Caesarea. The governor doesn’t know what to do with Paul, who had been left in prison by his predecessor. King Agrippa–a small time Jewish king who is visiting–asks to hear Paul. In the end, everyone agrees that Paul has done nothing worthy of punishment, and that he could be released if he hadn’t already appealed to the emperor.
We don’t know how Paul’s appeal to the emperor turned out. Eventually of course, he was martyred. We do know that at this point Paul got to Rome and preached confidently to all who came to him. He was faithful to the mission he had received from Jesus. Christians of today remain in his debt.
It would be interesting to know exactly the dispute with the emperor that caused St. Paul to get executed. Maybe his refusal to worship the emperor? I’m sure St. Paul did his best to be diplomatic about it, but to no avail. Or was he not even diplomatic about it? That would have been even more interesting, if true.