The Conversion of Saint Paul the Apostle
-
-
The Feast of The Conversion of Saint Paul the Apostle is January 25th.
The Conversion of Saint Paul the ApostleSaint Paul’s entire life can be explained in terms of one experience—his meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus. In an instant, he saw that all the zeal of his dynamic personality was being wasted, like the strength of a boxer swinging wildly. Perhaps he had never seen Jesus, who was only a few years older. But he had acquired a zealot’s hatred of all Jesus stood for, as he began to harass the Church: “…entering house after house and dragging out men and women, he handed them over for imprisonment” (Acts of the Apostles 8:3). Now he himself was “entered,” possessed, all his energy harnessed to one goal—being a slave of Christ in the ministry of reconciliation, an instrument to help others experience the one Savior.
One sentence determined his theology: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (Acts of the Apostles 9:5). Jesus was mysteriously identified with people—the loving group of people Saul had been running down like criminals. Jesus, he saw, was the mysterious fulfillment of all he had been blindly pursuing.
From then on, his only work was to “present everyone perfect in Christ. For this I labor and struggle, in accord with the exercise of his power working within me” (Colossians 1:28-29). “For our gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and [with] much conviction” (1 Thessalonians 1:5).
Paul’s life became tireless, proclaiming and living out of the message of the cross: Christians die baptismally to sin and are buried with Christ; they are dead to all that is sinful and unredeemed in the world. They are made into a new creation, already sharing Christ’s victory and someday to rise from the dead like him. Through this risen Christ the Father pours out the Spirit on them, making them completely new.
-
-
-
-
Paul’s great message to the world was: You are saved entirely by God, not by anything you can do. Saving faith is the gift of total, free, personal and loving commitment to Christ, a commitment that then bears fruit in more “works” than the Law could ever contemplate.
-
-
-
The Event of Saint Paul's Conversion on the way to Damascus
The first reading at Mass (Acts of the Apostles 9:1-20) was the account of the conversion of the rabbi named Saul. He was one of the most passionate among the growing number of those who persecuted the early followers of Jesus Christ.Before his conversion, Saul was complicit in the martyrdom of the first deacon and of the Church, Stephen. What was his response afterward? He became even more virulent. He breathed 'murderous threats' against the believers and sought to bring them back in chains. He set off on a journey to Damascus in hot pursuit. But, the Risen Lord had other plans for Saul.
"On his journey, as he was nearing Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" He said, "Who are you, sir?" The reply came, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting."
Saul heard Jesus ask him that probing question which changed his life, "Why do you persecute me?" As far as we can tell through either Biblical or historical evidence, Saul had never even met Jesus, at least during His earthly ministry. Yet, because Jesus the Head is inseparably joined to His Church, he was being persecuted by Saul when the disciples were being persecuted by Saul. They were members of His Body.
In this encounter, Saul became a witness to the Resurrection, a prerequisite to being an apostle. This experience opened up for him a life filled with responding to the continual invitations of Jesus Christ. It became the framework for continuing conversion and the driving force behind his apostolic mission to spread the Gospel and plant the Church throughout the known world. The man who had once persecuted the Way, became the Apostle who walked with Jesus along that Way - and invited so many others to do the same.
Before they were called Christians in Antioch (Acts of the Apostles 11:26) they were often referred to as the Way. Paul, prior to his encounter with the Risen Lord on the Road to Damascus, speaks of having persecuted this Way (Acts of the Apostles 22: 3-16). The expression - the Way - revealed a profoundly important aspect of the self understanding of the early Christians.
They lived the Christian faith as a new way of living, a new way of being human. They saw their lives as being lived in Christ - joined to Jesus, and with one another, for the sake of the world. Their Christianity was not about 'me and Jesus' but 'me in Jesus'. They knew they that as members of His Body they were called to continue his ongoing work.
-Catholic.org
-
