We gather tonight on May 3, 2014 in a home named after one of the apostles, St. Paul, the observant Pharisee and adherent to Judaism, the great persecutor of Christianity, who became the apostle of Christ and the champion of the Gentiles.

May 3 ^rd is also the feast day of two other apostles, St. James and St. Philip.

James, you may know, was a relative of Jesus, a cousin, who became the head of the Jerusalem church and was the first of the apostles to be martyred. He initially became associated with Jesus because he was a member of his extended family.

Philip was from Bethsaida, the same town as Peter and Andrew, and, therefore, may have been a fisherman, too. He became a disciple because Jesus found him and called him personally. And one of the first things Philip did was to go and find his friend Nathaniel, who is also known by his last name, Bartholomew. Philip invited Nathaniel to come and meet the one who had found him.

I mention these apostles tonight, Paul and James, Philip and Bartholomew, because they come together to join in the mission of Jesus in a variety of ways: by family ties and associations, by a particular call, by unlikely circumstance, by the invitation of another.

I have a feeling that we have ended up here together tonight in the same variety of ways: because of our association with someone who is a part of St. Paul's, by a direct call from me or the Lord, by invitation of another. Some of you may even be wondering how you got here.

But we are glad that you are. And by being here, you are supporting an important mission?to make the world a spiritual place. To make the world as God intended it to be, a place, as the poet says, ?charged with the grandeur of God,? in which there lives deep down in all people and all things, a ?dearest freshness,? a flame of faith, a great gladness, an echo of divinity.

St. Paul Inside the Walls tries to be a leader, catalyst and model in making the world a spiritual place, as God intended it to be. With traditional and innovative programs that inspire people of all ages, beliefs, cultures, perspectives and professions, we invite people into conversation and community, into self-discovery and shared mission. We believe in every human heart there is a yearning and an emerging quest?to know the truth who is God, to embrace him, to live in and celebrate him and to share him. And we invite, with passion but without coercion, every person to consider how they might do that in the Church that Jesus founded.

This is heavy stuff. We are pretty excited about it. And we know that all we have to do is present the One who is Good and Beautiful and True, and Goodness and Beauty and Truth will argue for themselves and make a pretty compelling and irresistible case.

Of the multiple highlights of this past academic year, two are fresh in my mind:
One involved multiple people and many of you?our conversation between a prosecutor, a judge and a theologian on the application of mercy in the exercise of the law, presented by our Outreach to Catholic Lawyers and entitled, from the Merchant of Venice, ?When Mercy Seasons Justice.? It was a substantive conversation, legal and philosophical and theological, that we should have more often.

The other highlight involved just one soul. Among our young adults who have received the sacraments at St. Paul's, one this year was demonstrative of our outreach. Brian is a full-time baseball coach at Drew University. About 30, he was never raised in any religion, but conscious of depth in his own spirit, and therefore, conscious of God. His friend brought him here. He began his spiritual quest, asking questions, attending our RCIA. And sometime right before Christmas, I sensed a change in him. A sincere seeker to begin, he had become an intentional apprentice in the way of Jesus. And two weeks ago today, he plunged headlong into the waters of baptism and entered into the Church that Jesus founded. This is the kind of seeking and finding that we should encourage, and facilitate more often.

These are a few of the many things we do here. I thank you, and God thanks you, for supporting us with your presence, your resources and your prayers.