Word to the Wise
Saturday, January 25, 2025 - Jan. 25 - The Conversion of St. Paul, Apostle
[Acts 22:3-16 or Acts 9:1-22 and Mark 16:15-18]"'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?' I replied, 'Who are you, sir?' And he said to me, 'I am Jesus the Nazorean whom you are persecuting.'" [Acts]
The significance of the conversion of St. Paul can hardly be overstated! He has been called "the second founder of Christianity!" He brought the same zeal with which he persecuted Christians as a kind of "bounty hunter" to his preaching about Jesus to both Jews and Gentiles. But when he was consistently rejected by Jews, he turned exclusively to Gentile audiences and spread the gospel around the Mediterranean area of the Roman Empire. His preaching to Gentiles led to the "Council of Jerusalem" at which the momentous decision was made that Gentile converts were not bound by the Mosaic Law!
Every year, when we celebrate, liturgically, the conversion of St. Paul, my attention is always captured by the line, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting!" It echoes in my mind the words of Jesus in Matthew 25. "As often as you did it to the least of my brethren, you did it to me!" How many of us think in that way? We may regret our offenses against our neighbor, but do we see these offenses as a direct offense to Jesus, and not just breaking a rule? St. Paul's preaching about the Body of Christ has profoundly shaped Roman Catholic theological tradition, but it is all too common to separate Christ from our neighbor. St. Paul's consciousness of the connection led to his conversion. Could it lead to a "conversion" in us who already claim to believe in Jesus? AMEN