St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria’s exhortation—can be read as a distinctly Pauline formulation

St. Anthony Mary Zaccaria’s exhortation—“biegnijmy jak szaleńcy nie tylko do Boga, ale i do bliźniego” (“let us run like madmen not only to God, but also to our neighbor”)—can be read as a distinctly Pauline formulation, both in its governing metaphor (the athletic imagery of running) and in its underlying theological logic (the inseparability of communion with God and concrete charity). The statement functions less as an invitation to emotional excess than as a rhetorical intensification of what Paul repeatedly frames as the normative posture of Christian existence: purposeful striving, animated by grace, ordered to Christ, and verified in love.

1. The athletic metaphor and teleological orientation

Paul’s letters employ athletic imagery to articulate Christian life as a goal-directed pursuit. The imperative “run” is not merely descriptive but teleological, emphasizing an end toward which the believer is ordered: “Run so as to win” (1 Cor 9:24). Likewise, Paul describes his own discipleship in terms of forward movement governed by a singular horizon: “forgetting what lies behind… I press on toward the goal for the prize” (Phil 3:13–14). The culmination of this trajectory appears in the retrospective formula: “I have finished the race” (2 Tim 4:7). Zaccaria’s biegnijmy thus coheres with a Pauline spirituality that rejects moral or spiritual drift in favor of decisive movement toward the “prize,” that is, communion with Christ.

2. “Holy urgency” as grace-driven zeal rather than disorder

The phrase “like madmen” should be interpreted as rhetorical hyperbole indicating intensity and immediacy, not irrationality. Paul provides conceptual resources for this interpretation in his account of zeal as a grace-enabled disposition: “Do not grow slack in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord” (Rom 12:11). The dynamic source of such fervor is Christological: “the love of Christ impels us” (2 Cor 5:14). Moreover, Paul’s prophetic urgency—“Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!” (1 Cor 9:16)—illustrates that authentic Christian zeal is not optional enthusiasm but a constraining force rooted in vocation and charity. Zaccaria’s language parallels this Pauline construal of spiritual intensity as the outworking of grace rather than emotional volatility.

3. The intrinsic link between movement toward God and neighbor-directed service

Zaccaria’s coordination of the Godward and neighborward “run” reflects a Pauline refusal of a purely “vertical” piety detached from lived charity. Paul’s programmatic summary—“the only thing that counts is faith working through love” (Gal 5:6)—identifies love not as an accessory to faith but as its operative form. Accordingly, the ethical consequence is communal service: “Serve one another through love” (Gal 5:13), grounded in the commandment “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Gal 5:14). Paul further insists that love constitutes the fulfillment of the law (Rom 13:10). Within this framework, Zaccaria’s claim is structurally Pauline: movement toward God is authenticated by concrete love toward the neighbor.

4. Material charity as cultic offering

Zaccaria’s additional clarification—namely, that the neighbor “receives what we cannot give to God, because God does not need our goods”—also resonates with Paul’s depiction of material assistance as a genuinely theological act. In Phil 4:18 Paul interprets a financial gift in explicitly cultic terms: “a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.” Similarly, in 2 Cor 9:12 charitable service is said to supply concrete needs while generating thanksgiving to God. Paul therefore supplies the conceptual bridge that Zaccaria employs: acts done for the neighbor are not merely ethical deeds but become, in their ecclesial and Christological orientation, a form of worship.

Concluding synthesis

In sum, Paul provides (i) the governing metaphor of the Christian life as a purposeful race (1 Cor 9:24; Phil 3:13–14), (ii) the inner of grace-driven zeal (Rom 12:11; 2 Cor 5:14), and (iii) the criterion by which Godward striving is verified—namely, love enacted in service (Gal 5:6; Gal 5:13–14). Zaccaria’s exhortation can thus be understood as a concentrated Pauline application: one runs toward God precisely by running toward the neighbor, because charity renders faith operative and becomes, in Paul’s terms, an offering “pleasing to God” (Phil 4:18).