Please read the passage before reading the comments.
This is Paul’s farewell address. He had come to an understanding that his work was coming to an end. Paul had proclaimed the word, initiated the Church and watched it grow. With the growth, wolves will come, people running for office and promoting themselves.
This is way of popular movements. They develop to a point where they need some organization in order to survive. With the organization, however, comes the human element of greed for power and the struggle to control the direction of the group.
It was so in the early Church. It was so with the foundation of the United States. It is so in the present state of affaire where it has become somewhat normal to call members of our other political parties names and threaten them with legal action. It can be so as we change from Pope Francis to Pope Leo XIV.
It is that we want to get our own way or do God’s way? Paul put himself forward as an example. His hands served his needs; he helped the weak; he did not want anyone’s silver or gold. He found it more blessed to give than to receive.
How, then, are we to give our lives in service to others and refuse to be serviced at the expense of others? How can we imitate Paul in the groups to which we belong?
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