How Far Did Saint Paul Travel By Foot In His Journeys To Spread The Gospel?
Saint Paul is the greatest Christian missionary ever, playing a pivotal role in the sharing of Christ’s message in the earliest days of the faith. Using the vast network of Roman roads (and, at times, the sea), he traveled to what are now modern day Israel, Syria, Turkey, Greece, and Italy. His long and arduous journeys are described in the Acts of the Apostles in surprisingly good detail. Biblical scholars, by studying his routes as mentioned in the Bible, have calculated that Saint Paul travelled more than 10,000 miles - by foot! That’s the equivalent of walking to and from New York to Los Angeles nearly four times!
But these were not leisurely strolls. His path was constantly beset by danger and hardships. In 2 Corinthians 11: 25–27, Saint Paul describes some of the dangers he encountered while traveling:
“Three times I was shipwrecked, I passed a night and a day on the deep; on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own race, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, …in toil in hardship, through many sleepless nights, through hunger and thirst, through frequent fastings, through cold and exposure.”
His work is the model of all missionary work, and missionaries seek his intervention as they continue to spread the message of the Gospel in the 21st century.
Nearly 2,000 years after Saint Paul began his missions, the Catholic Church continues seeking to explore the zeal and spirit of Saint Paul in new and innovative ways. It is through this lens of reimagining Catholic missions in the 21st-century that the Pontifical Mission Societies are holding the inaugural MISSIO Congress in Orlando, Florida September 5-7, 2017.
H E L P F O R M R E S U L T S
A unique aspect of this event is that it is a Congress, not a conference. In this format, instead of having speakers present, participants will be asked to actively participate and help form the results of the Congress.
C O N G R E S S G O A L S
The MISSIO Congress goals are to:
- Strengthen the identity and missionary commitment of the Church
- Reimagine mission animation and formation in the digital age
- Gather important insights for an increasingly intercultural Catholic Church in the United States
- Prepare a delegation to represent the Catholic Church in the United States with genuine solidarity at the Continental Missionary Congress (CAMV) to be held in Bolivia in July 2018.
C O N G R E S S C O U N T D O W N
Don't miss this opportunity to bring your voice and experience to the conversation in Orlando. To learn more about the MISSIO Congress, download our free guide now!