Conversion for all

A surprising part of the story of the conversion of Saint Paul which is celebrated in the texts of the Roman Catholic Lectionary today as noted by Andy Alexander, S.J of Creighton University is how Jesus identifies himself to Paul. He says that he is the one Paul is persecuting. He completely identifies with his people. Andy Alexander details some of Pope Francis teaching about this in a talk he gave on the Body of Christ. Friar Jude Winkler reviews the key points of the conversion of Paul from the three accounts in theActs of the Apostles. The appearances of Jesus after His resurrection are presented in the longer ending of the Gospel of Mark (Mark 16.9-18) from which the text for today is taken. This ending was likely added by a disciple of Mark. The Gospel ends proclaiming the experience of the risen Christ to Mary Magdalene and two disciples and commissioning the Apostles to proclaim the Good News to all creation. The intimacy with which Jesus makes Himself known to us in daily life is described by Andy Alexander. In most cases these encounters are not as momentous as the conversion narrative of Paul but they are intended to open our eyes to the invitation to be “as his body those brothers of his who are called together from every nation'" (Lumen Gentium, n. 7)” The great rabbi Gamaliel, a teacher of St Paul, who is also mentioned in Acts, where he takes an open-minded view of Christianity, urging that it not be persecuted (Acts 5:34-42), establishes Paul’s status as a learned and observant Jew. The ending of the Gospel of Mark is explained by Friar Jude as a summary of the protection of God for those, Paul in particular, who are acting to bring the Good News to Jew and Gentile alike.