Whenever St. Paul speaks about boasting, he does so with a very special theological meaning. His boasting is always "in the Lord" even when, as in today's passage from Second Corinthians, he does not explicitly say so. "Boasting in the Lord" means recognizing all the gifts which he has received from God and then glorifying God with joyful thanksgiving. Though he had left all things, including his Old Testament background, to be an Apostle of Jesus Christ, Paul never forgot that he was a Jew, an inheritor of all the Old Testament graces and promises. So he boasts that he is a Hebrew-speaking Jew; he is an Israelite, a member of the chosen people, a descendant of Abraham. Most of all, he is a minister of Christ. These are great graces to be grateful for.

He shows how he suffered for Christ, not in order to boast in any human way but to show he can sympathize with everyone in his daily anxiety for the Churches. He has learned to be like our suffering and sympathetic High Priest, Jesus Christ.