Word to the Wise
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 - The Conversion of St. Paul
[Acts 22:3-16 or Acts 9:1-22 and Mark 16:15-18]"Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" He said, "Who are you, sir?" The reply came, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting."
The conversion of a dramatic person is bound to be dramatic in itself, and very likely the converted person will remain dramatic! To go from a zealous persecutor to a zealous preacher is a dramatic change. Such is St. Paul and St. Paul's conversion. There are three accounts of it in the Acts of the Apostles and two of those accounts are alternatively offered for today's feast. [The third is Acts 26:12-18]. They all have one important feature that I want to highlight. Saul (Paul) is asked the question, "Why are you persecuting ME?" This conversion gets very personal very quickly! It is this personal quality that seems to propel Paul through an incredible career. As he put it later, "Have I not seen the Lord?"
Once that zeal is pointed in the opposite direction, it just keeps on going! No, he didn't immediately become the missionary, but he was well enough known for Barnabas to go looking for him to get him involved in missionary activity. The results are there for us to see in the stories in Acts of the Apostles and in Paul's own letters. His theology is one of the principal sources of Catholic belief!
People like St. Paul can make us uncomfortable with their zeal. They confront us with a reality in which they have a profound faith and demand to know where we stand. Yet, the conversion of Saul of Tarsus who became St. Paul the Apostle is one of the most important events in the history of Christian faith and evangelization. It is almost impossible to escape his teaching about Jesus. Taking the time to read all his letters can be a very rewarding and uncomfortable experience. It can get very personal very quickly! If we are neither persecutor nor zealous preacher, we may be challenged to find out just where we do stand! AMEN
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