St. Paul's Thorn not really a mystery

People continue to speculate about the possible meanings of St. Paul’s “Thorn in the Flesh:”

And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. – 2 Corinthians 12.7

People keep missing the obvious and true explanation, so far as I see in the conversations I have glanced in on.

Paul said:

“I was zealous for the Law [in Greek this is translated as “zealous for God”] just as all of you are today. And I persecuted this Way even to the death, binding and committing to prisons both men and women, as the high priest can bear me witness, and all the elders. In fact I received letters from them to the brethren in Damascus, and I was on my way to arrest those who were there and bring them back to Jerusalem for punishment.” Acts 22: 4-5

Paul said:

“Now I exhort you, brethren, that you watch those who cause dissensions and scandals contrary to the doctrine that you have learned, and avoid them. For such do not serve Christ our Lord but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattery deceive he hearts of the simple. For your submission to the faith has been published everywhere. I rejoice therefore over you. Yet I would have you wise as to what is good, and guileless as to what is evil. But the God of peace will speedily crush Satan under your feet.” (Romans 16: 17-20)

Paul said:

“For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized in Moses, in the cloud and in the sea. And all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink (for they drank from the spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ). Yet with most of them God was not well pleased, for ‘they were laid low in the desert.’” (1 Corinthians 10: 1-5)

Paul said:

“Now I myself, Paul, appeal to you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ-I who to your face indeed am diffident when among you, but when absent am fearless toward you!” (2 Corinthians 10: 1)

Paul said:

“Behold, this is the third time that I am coming to you: “On the word of two or three witnesses every word shall be confirmed.” I have already warned, when present, and now in my absence I warn again those who sinned before, and all the rest, that if I come again I will not spare. Do you seek a proof of the Christ who speaks in me, who is not weak in your regard, nay, is powerful in you?” (2 Corinthians 13: 1-3)

Paul said:

“I marvel that you are so quickly deserting him who called you to the grace of Christ, changing to another gospel; which is not another gospel, except in this respect that there are some who trouble you, and wish to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel to you other than that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema!” (Galatians 1: 6-8)

Paul said:

“Put on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the Principalities and the Powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness on high. Therefore take up the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and stand in all things perfect. Stand, therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of justice, and having your feet shod with the readiness of the gospel of peace, in all things taking up the shield of faith, with which you may be able to quench all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, that is, the word of God.” (Ephesians 6: 10-17)

Paul said:

“He has destroyed death and brought to light life and incorruption by the gospel, of which I have been appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles. That is why also I am suffering these things; yet I am not ashamed. For I know whom I have believed, and I am certain that he is able to guard the trust committed to me against that day.” (2 Timothy 1:10-12)

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OK, now think about those passages. So many people quote the touchy-feely passages from St. Paul that they forget that he is the chief among the whoop ass Apostles, exceeding even the zeal of the Old Testament Prophets. People miss one obvious fact. When he persecuted Christians, leading them even to death, without mercy, he was not an “employee” of the Temple or the military! He was a tent maker! What makes a tent maker take to the road and round up Christians in his self described zeal as a full time obsession and occupation? There is a clue in the first passage I quote where the Greek translation speaks of his zeal for God. St. Paul clearly felt an angry calling that he attributed to God, causing him to leave his family tent business and “take to the road” hunting down Christians. It is as if a real estate developer today abandoned his family business just to persecute and arrest Catholics.

So the thorn in St. Paul’s side was his angry zealotry that he felt was in response to God’s demands. When the resurrected Christ appeared to him and converted him, he “saw the light” and as he says, as I cite above, his meekness and gentleness comes from Christ. But if you read the passages that I have pointed out above, you will see that he is still the most blunt and militaristic of the Apostles or disciples. He is not militaristic in the sense of persecuting or harming non believers, or forced conversion. But he still has that spark (the thorn) of compulsion to shake people up and be very blunt about the consequences of sinful and heretical behavior. This thorn that he has that keeps him humble is the knowledge that for him is a certainty that God is in charge. Even the most faithful of believers have to rely on, well, faith. They do not actually KNOW. But St. Paul knows the power of God; he felt it (wrongly focused, as it turns out, which is why he says the thorn is Satan's) when he persecuted Christians, and then he experienced it first hand in his revelation on the road to Damascus. This “righteous anger on behalf of God” (my words and way of looking at him) are the thorn that both goads him and keeps him humble. A thorn does both. A thorn is a prod, and that is mostly how he means it. Remember that St. Paul was one tough cookie and he did not mean a thorn the way a wimp might mean it today, as a boo-boo in the paw that causes him to whimper. No, when St. Paul talks of a thorn he means a goad, a prod, but one that also reminds him that he may be the messenger but he is not the originator of the message.