Reflection for Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Easter

Today's readings are here: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/052212.cfm

"Yet I consider life of no importance to me, if only I may finish my course...." - Acts 20:24

St. Paul was headed to Jerusalem knowing that severe persecution awaited him there.  Yet, it did not bother him one bit; for as he said in the above passage, his life did not matter to him.  All that mattered to St. Paul was being faithful to Christ who had been patient with him who was a persecutor of the Church.

How was St. Paul able to love our Lord so much that he did not care for his own life?  How was he able to lose himself in Christ?  He knew that Christ unconditionally loved him by dying for him on the cross; and to Paul, possessing this love was the greatest thing in all the world.  Nothing else mattered, not even his own life; for Christ's life did not matter to him for love of Paul, so Paul's life did not matter to him for love of Christ.

May the Holy Spirit open the eyes of our hearts to see the unfathomable love of Christ for us, so that we might love him above all things, even our own lives.