The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite contemplation about conversion and our action to live in faith.
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| Poets and Preachers convert |
In the first choice of readings from the Book of Acts Chapter 22 Paul tells of His Conversion
* [22:1–21] Paul’s first defense speech is presented to the Jerusalem crowds. Luke here presents Paul as a devout Jew (Acts 22:3) and zealous persecutor of the Christian community (Acts 22:4–5), and then recounts the conversion of Paul for the second time in Acts (see note on Acts 9:1–19).1
and in the alternate reading from Acts Chapter 9, Luke recounts the conversion of Saul, his Baptism and preaching in Damascus.
* [9:1–19] This is the first of three accounts of Paul’s conversion (with Acts 22:3–16 and Acts 26:2–18) with some differences of detail owing to Luke’s use of different sources. Paul’s experience was not visionary but was precipitated by the appearance of Jesus, as he insists in 1 Cor 15:8. The words of Jesus, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” related by Luke with no variation in all three accounts, exerted a profound and lasting influence on the thought of Paul. Under the influence of this experience he gradually developed his understanding of justification by faith (see the letters to the Galatians and Romans) and of the identification of the Christian community with Jesus Christ (see 1 Cor 12:27). That Luke would narrate this conversion three times is testimony to the importance he attaches to it. This first account occurs when the word is first spread to the Gentiles. At this point, the conversion of the hero of the Gentile mission is recounted. The emphasis in the account is on Paul as a divinely chosen instrument (Acts 9:15).2
Psalm 117 is a universal call to Worship.
* [Psalm 117] This shortest of hymns calls on the nations to acknowledge God’s supremacy. The supremacy of Israel’s God has been demonstrated to them by the people’s secure existence, which is owed entirely to God’s gracious fidelity.3
The Commissioning of the Eleven instructing them to go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation is in the longer ending to the Gospel of Mark.
* [16:9–20] This passage, termed the Longer Ending to the Marcan gospel by comparison with a much briefer conclusion found in some less important manuscripts, has traditionally been accepted as a canonical part of the gospel and was defined as such by the Council of Trent. Early citations of it by the Fathers indicate that it was composed by the second century, although vocabulary and style indicate that it was written by someone other than Mark. It is a general resume of the material concerning the appearances of the risen Jesus, reflecting, in particular, traditions found in Lk 24 and Jn 20.4
Mary Lee Brock comments the story of Paul’s conversion has so many elements including the reputation of Saul as a persecutor, the fear of Ananias expressed about confronting Saul, the commanding presence of Jesus and the rebirth of Paul after having been struck down and blinded. This story is inspiring and also very challenging.
As I pray with this reading I realize how difficult it is to confront my own moments in my life where I needed conversion. While I have always had a steadfast faith in Jesus, I can see times in my life where I behaved like Saul and used my power to persecute people who did not seem to share my values. There were no chains and prisons involved, but yet I would use the power of my words and actions to marginalize someone or punish them in some way. Facing these sins is so humiliating. Yet when I sit with the memories I am also profoundly aware of God’s compassion. It was through Jesus that the “scales would fall from my eyes” and I could see the other as a whole person loved by God. I am grateful for the times that I have accepted the conversion invitations and I pray that I am always able to hear the Holy Spirit.5
Don Schwager quotes Pope Benedict XVI who reflects on the significance of Paul's conversion for the whole Christian people.
"Paul's conversion matured in his encounter with the Risen Christ; it was this encounter that radically changed his life. What happened to him on the road to Damascus is what Jesus asks in today's Gospel: Saul is converted because, thanks to the divine light, "he has believed in the Gospel". In this consists his and our conversion: in believing in Jesus dead and risen and in opening to the illumination of his divine grace. In that moment Saul understood that his salvation did not depend on good works fulfilled according to the law, but on the fact that Jesus died also for him the persecutor and has risen. This truth by which every Christian life is enlightened thanks to Baptism completely overturns our way of life. To be converted means, also for each one of us, to believe that Jesus "has given himself for me", dying on the Cross (cf. Galatians 2: 20) and, risen, lives with me and in me. Entrusting myself to the power of his forgiveness, letting myself be taken by his hand, I can come out of the quicksands of pride and sin, of deceit and sadness, of selfishness and of every false security, to know and live the richness of his love." (from address given on January 25, 2009)6
The Word Among Us Meditation on Acts 22:3-16 notes one of the truths Paul advocated so passionately for was the fact that in Christ, all believers are one. Think, for instance, of his tireless work in bridging the divide between Jews and Gentiles. He said it over and over again: baptism has made all believers one in Christ. All the old divisions had to fall away so that they could treat each other as equal brothers and sisters in the Lord (Galatians 3:28; Romans 10:12; 1 Corinthians 12:13; and Colossians 3:11).
What about us? We may not be able to resolve all the doctrinal issues that separate us from Christians of other denominations. But we can, by God’s grace, learn to love them as brothers and sisters in Christ. We have more in common than the Gentiles and Jews in the early Church. The grace of baptism unites us. The Holy Spirit unites us. Our godly desire for justice unites us. The more we see one another as beloved children of God and the more we work together on behalf of the gospel, the more we will be able to pursue unity according to the heart of God and on his timetable.7
Friar Jude Winkler discusses the possible role of nature as thunder and lightning brings the voice of God to Paul. Ananias heals Paul who experiences the Love of God in spite of what he has done. Friar Jude is reminded by the Gospel of the encounter of Paul with a poisonous snake on his way to Rome.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that the abbas and ammas sought out desert conditions, believing they would find new and abundant life—even where life seemed impossible. Fr. Richard invites us to take a few breaths and to slowly and contemplatively read this passage from Howard Thurman’s Meditations of the Heart, in which he describes an encounter in another kind of mountain wilderness.
It is as if the tree had said, “I am destined to reach for the skies and embrace in my arms the wind, the rain, the snow and the sun, singing my song of joy to all the heavens. But this I cannot do. I have taken root beyond the timber line, and yet I do not want to die; I must not die. I shall make a careful survey of my situation and work out a method, a way of life, that will yield growth and development for me despite the contradictions under which I must eke out my days. In the end I may not look like the other trees, I may not be what all that is within me cries out to be. But I will not give up. I will use to the full every resource in me and about me to answer life with life. In so doing I shall affirm that this is the kind of universe that sustains, upon demand, the life that is in it.” I wonder if I dare to act even as the tree acts. I wonder! I wonder! Do you? [2]8
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| Trees at the top by the sea |
As we respond to the call of the Gospel and the example of Paul we embrace Creation as a path to greater connection to the intimacy of God.
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