Philemon: Paul pleads with Philemon, master of the runaway slave Onesimus, to receive him back and not to punish him. The shortest of all his letters, Philemon is a personal letter of friendship asking for a favor, based on mutual love and respect. Taken from a series of sermons given by Father Kenneth Baker, S.J., on the Letters of Saint Paul the Apostle: Sermon 12 of 17