The gospel tells us that Jesus came into the world not only to show us how much God loves us, but also how much he loves his Father. That is why he was willing to suffer the passion and death out of obedience to his Father.

How many of us are willing to suffer for others, much less suffer for God? Jesus’ sacrifice is not only a model of generous self-giving but also an example of how to love God our Father. Obviously he had an intimate and loving relationship with God. We must also have an intimate relationship with God in order to discover and understand his plan of salvation for us. In order to do God’s will in our lives, we must first know what it is. We must also discover His fatherhood before we could love Him above all things and put Him at the first place in our lives.

In the first reading, St. Paul knew what God’s will for him was – to proclaim the Good News anywhere and everywhere, accepted or rejected, to anyone and everyone. He was ready to suffer all hardships for the evangelization. Therefore God was with him in his missionary travels and helped him create many Christian communities in Asia Minor. Despite strong oppositions from both Jews and Gentiles, St. Paul pushed on and now we look up to him as the greatest model of all Christian missionaries.