The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to recall a conversion experience on our journey and how it invites us to a fuller comprehension of our role in life.
The reading from the Acts of the Apostles presents the Conversion of Saul.
* [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).
* [9:2] The Way: a name used by the early Christian community for itself (Acts 18:26; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22). The Essene community at Qumran used the same designation to describe its mode of life.
* [9:8] He could see nothing: a temporary blindness (Acts 9:18) symbolizing the religious blindness of Saul as persecutor (cf. Acts 26:18).
* [9:13] Your holy ones: literally, “your saints.” (Acts of the Apostles, CHAPTER 9 | USCCB, n.d.)
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. (Psalms, PSALM 117 | USCCB, n.d.)
In the Gospel of John, Jesus proclaims the Bread of Life.
* [6:35–59] Up to Jn 6:50 “bread of life” is a figure for God’s revelation in Jesus; in Jn 6:51–58, the eucharistic theme comes to the fore. There may thus be a break between Jn 6:50–51.
* [6:43] Murmuring: the word may reflect the Greek of Ex 16:2, 7–8.
* [6:54–58] Eats: the verb used in these verses is not the classical Greek verb used of human eating, but that of animal eating: “munch,” “gnaw.” This may be part of John’s emphasis on the reality of the flesh and blood of Jesus (cf. Jn 6:55), but the same verb eventually became the ordinary verb in Greek meaning “eat.” (John, CHAPTER 6 | USCCB, n.d.)
Steve Scholer asks if our easy path to becoming a Christian diminished what it means to be a child of God? Are we satisfied with just saying our daily prayers, attending Mass on Sunday and dropping an envelope in the basket when it is passed by? Have we allowed scales to form over our eyes to the point that we cannot see what God expects of us?
Ignatian Spirituality tells us that we should strive to be conducive to the greater service of God and the universal good. It is worth noting the goal is that our service is for the glory of God … not for our own self-promotion. Thus, the motto often seen on Jesuit publications and websites, Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam: For the Greater Glory of God.
As we go about our Daily Examen of Conscience today, let’s pray for the grace to understand how God is acting in our lives. Is God urging me toward the Magis but the scales over my eyes are preventing me from seeing what God wants from me? Are we seeing God in all things, and are we grateful for his constant presence, or are we weekend Catholics who only look for God in church on Sunday?
Don Schwager quotes “Abiding in Christ,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
" Jesus recommended to us His Body and Blood in bread and wine, elements that are reduced into one out of many constituents. What is meant by eating that food and taking that drink is this: to remain in Christ and have Him remaining in us." (excerpt from Sermon on John 26,112) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Acts 9:1-20 comments that most of us haven’t experienced conversions as dramatic as Saul’s. But his story shows us that saints—Christians as a whole, for that matter—don’t spring up out of nowhere. They are created in community. We all need one another if we are going to deepen our faith and our relationship with the Lord!
Saul needed Ananias and his other friends. Likewise, there are people around you—in your parish, at home, at work—who need you. They need your witness. They need your prayer and your practical help and encouragement. Today make sure you reach out your hand to them in love and support.
“Here I am, Lord. Send me!” (Meditation on Acts 9:1-20, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler comments on the subtle difference between the three accounts of the conversion of Saul in Acts. Luke may have mentioned the illegal authority of Saul, Aramaic form of Paul, to contrast acts of Jewish authorities with “law observing” Christians. Thunder and lighting may have connection to cataracts on the eyes of Paul, Greco-Roman version of Saul. Friar Jude reminds us of how outlandish Jesus' declaration of eating flesh and drinking blood is and the connection of the Eucharist to present and future eschatology.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, describes how reading poetry contemplatively can be a sacred practice.
Poets are masters of the concrete. They first pull us into a single similarity between an animal, an object in nature, or an event, before they shock us with the dissimilarity. Then, they leave us there to make the connection between the concrete and the universal. When we make that connection, there’s suddenly a great leap of meaning, an understanding that it’s one world. The very word “metaphor,” which comes from two Greek words, means to “carry across.” A good metaphor carries us across, and we don’t even know how it’s occurred. Here are a few lines from Mary Oliver’s poem “Have You Ever Tried to Enter the Long Black Branches”:
Have you ever tried to enter the long black branches
of other lives—
tried to imagine what the crisp fringes, full of honey,
hanging
from the branches of the young locust trees, in early summer,
feel like? …
Who can open the door who does not reach for the latch?
Who can travel the miles who does not put one foot
in front of the other, all attentive to what presents itself
continually?
Who will behold the inner chamber who has not observed
with admiration, even with rapture, the outer stone?
Well, there is time left—
fields everywhere invite you into them. [2]When reading poetry like this, we have to release ourselves and we have to have time to do it. If we’re reading a poem too quickly, between two urgent meetings or other hurried spaces, we probably won’t get it, because we don’t have time to release ourselves. We need quiet, solitude, and open space to read poetry at greater depth. Then and only then do poems work their magic. (Rohr, n.d.)
We contemplate our understanding of measurable reality and invoke the Holy Spirit to awaken our perception of the greater reality of our Nature as children of God.
References
Acts of the Apostles, CHAPTER 9 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved April 19, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/acts/9?1
John, CHAPTER 6 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved April 19, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/6?
Meditation on Acts 9:1-20. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved April 19, 2024, from https://wau.org/meditations/2024/04/19/939234/
Psalms, PSALM 117 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved April 19, 2024, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/117?1
Rohr, R. (n.d.). The Sacred in the Concrete. CAC Daily Meditations. Retrieved April 19, 2024, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/the-sacred-in-the-concrete/
Scholer, S. (n.d.). Daily Reflection Of Creighton University's Online Ministries. DCreighton University's Online Ministries. Retrieved April 19, 2024, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/041924.html
Schwager, D. (n.d.). He Who Eats This Bread Will Live Forever. Daily Scripture net. Retrieved April 19, 2024, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2024&date=apr19
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