It happens not infrequently that people, especially young people who wish to become Catholics, are treated with suspicion if not open hostility by family members or friends. In the modern world, young Catholics who take their faith and their religion seriously and desire to be more than "Sunday Catholics" face criticism and even scorn from others.

Paul apparently faced a similar situation when he was converted to Christ: he felt he had to defend himself as a real Jew, as we read today in the passage from Second Corinthians and as we read in his Letter to the Philippians also. As he followed Jesus, Paul discovered that whatever promises God had made had been fulfilled in him. That did not mean that he was less a Jew, no longer a member of God's chosen people, no longer an heir to all that God had given Israel. He was still a Jew, an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham. No one has to abandon one's culture or heritage, in order to follow Jesus.