Thoughts About Servant of God Paul M. Murphy, MJ
From Very Rev. Fr. Alphonsus Maria Duran, MJ, founder of Miles Jesu

Excerpted from "A Man to Move Hearts" by Joanna Bogle and Stephen Ryan, MJ

From the very first moment that Paul accepted his vocation to Miles Jesu, I got a very strong impression that he was a great gift to us from God. Paul had so many outstanding qualities. He was a very open personality, full of joy, always ready with an amusing comment, intelligent, successful, very generous with God; he had a very clean life, and was popular with girls. (Paul was a very good-looking man), yet so willing to give everything up to accept his vocation to serve God. I have a very strong feeling of gratitude towards God for the gift of Paul’s vocation to Miles Jesu. Paul was extraordinary in natural and supernatural things, but he was by no means a show-off. Once he said to me, “If anyone relies on good looks, he’s supporting himself on nothing.”

Then when I got to know Paul deeper in his confessions (when a person is dead, the Church allows his confessor to reveal his virtues though not, of course, his sins) I kept repeating to him, “Paul, God wants you to be a saint. I don’t know how, but I know for sure that He wants you to be a saint.” Time would reveal to us that this was true.

Paul finished his studies as an architect and joined the Navy and easily became a lieutenant. At that time military service was obligatory. He wanted to serve his country with the knowledge that he had acquired in his career. He thought that in the Navy, in its requirements for buildings, barracks, etc., he would be able to use his architectural talents.

Paul was very spiritual, a daily communicant for many years, even when he was in the military service. He was very open-minded, but at the same time he had a strong personality with very clear principles. For example, though he had finished his studies, he was not yet legally an architect until he passed the state examinations. But I was proud of Paul and would introduce him as an architect. He did not like that and he let me know it very clearly. Sometimes he was even a little annoyed and he let me know that he disagreed, though never with hatred or resentment. When he finally passed the state examination he told me, “Now you can introduce me as an architect!”

As I said above, Paul had a strong personality and I think I have a little bit of that, too. So sometimes we had our disagreements. Paul was not a “yes man” – with him it was safe to disagree occasionally. Paul was incapable of holding a grudge against anybody. Paul was a very warm-hearted and loving man, yet he was not controlled by his feelings, but by his convictions.

I hope you will enjoy learning more about the life of Paul Murphy.

–Written at the Miles Jesu General House, Rome, Italy

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