Paul's farewell speech

Whatever could have been done was done. There was nothing more Paul could do. St. Paul was gifted in his own way. He knew very well where his strength lay. Debating with the Jews in the synagogue and outsmarting them with his rhetoric and extensive knowledge of the Hebrew Scripture were his strengths. This was good for the young Church which desperately needed to fight for a greater turf. But when a church has been set up, she needs other skills to maintain a healthy growth. Therefore, Paul would delegate the overseeing job to the elders he chose among the churches. Paul wrote epistles to advise them how to run these churches. For example, the epistle to Titus and two others to Timothy. In these epistles, Paul advised them to avoid  debates which he himself had engaged at the beginning of church building.
But avoid stupid controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels over the law, for they are unprofitable and futile (Titus 3:9).
Once again, diversity is essential for survival and for growth.
Paul knew that he would see these elders no more. From then on, they had to fend for themselves. Paul put it seriously.
Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you,
for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:26-27).
Paul had done all he could in proclaiming the precepts of God to them. If they perished, they themselves were to blame. Paul was "innocent of the blood of all of them".
As evangelists, we do our part in preaching. Some will be more receptive than the others. It is their freedom to reject the good news at their own expense. I can only pray for my students and teach them to pray for themselves. Shung Tak is the only school I know to have her School Prayer. It begins like this.
Make us receptive and open. May we accept Your Kingdom, like children taking bread from the hands of their father.The author of this School Prayer, probably Fr. John Baptist Wong King Yin, shows a very profound spirituality in these lines. I hope my students will put this prayer into practice and benefit from it.
Paul continued to remind them of their overseeing job. They were appointed to take care of the flock which God won over with the blood of Jesus.
Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God which he obtained with the blood of his own Son (Acts 20:28).
The Church is precious because she has been redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus. If she is precious in the eyes of God, can we despise her? Can we be angry with her for trivial reasons? Can we refuse to follow her precepts with trivial excuses, or out of laziness? What a pity! People just don't see the benefits of following the teachings of the Church because they look too conservative, too old-fashioned.
I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;
and from among your own selves will arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them (Acts 20:29-30).
It must have been very painful for Paul to watch the church being attacked while he could no longer be able to intervene. Attacks would come both from without and from within. The latter was all the worse because these traitors took advantage of the body that had fed and elevated them. This is true even nowadays. Are greed and deceit human nature?
However true this may be, it is no use indulging in these futile pessimistic ideas. Rather, think positive. Think more about what is good for the others will save us from falling into these pessimistic vice-cycle. Therefore, as a last piece of advice, Paul begged the elders not to forget the needs of the poor.
In all things I have shown you that by so toiling one must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' (Acts 20:35)
Paul had not neglected the needs of the weak while he had to toil for his own livelihood. Paul has left us an immortal motto: It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Dear Jesus, with Your precious blood, You have won over a people to share Your eternal life. Induce us to think more for the needy so that we will not fall victim to pessimism. Amen.