25 Jan 2017
Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul
If Saul of Tarsus were alive today, we would call him a
terrorist: hunting down Christians and persecuting them, all in the name of
God. It’s strange, then, to consider
that he ended up being one of our most revered Saints, St. Paul. On this Feast of the Conversation of Saint
Paul, we commemorate how God captured and transformed the zeal in Paul’s heart
for the good.
But there’s still the lingering history of Paul; after all,
he was a persecutor of Christians, and a fervent one at that. Imagine if some terrorist today suddenly “saw
the Light” and had a total conversion to Christ: would we be willing to accept
him (or her)? That’s a tough one, for
sure. Or maybe a less extreme example
would be helpful: What if someone who’s always just been a pain in the neck
actually did something nice? Could we
see the goodness of the present situation, without letting the past get in the
way? That’s a tough one.
But such people in our lives we like to call “opportunities
for holiness.” When Jesus told Ananias
to go meet up with Saul, Ananias basically said in reply, “Are you
crazy?!” He wasn’t too thrilled with the
idea, but he went anyway in obedience to the Lord. And in meeting Saul to be his guide, Ananias
had an opportunity to practice God’s brand of charity and forgiveness; he had
an opportunity to grow in holiness. And
he took it. He even went so far as to
call Saul, “my brother.”
The Conversion of Saint Paul was a very great act of
God. And every time someone’s heart is
turned to the Lord, it’s something to celebrate. May we have charity enough in our hearts to
forgive the past, and to celebrate with those who are on the path of conversion.
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