The Conversion of St. Paul
One
Today, January 25th, we celebrate the Conversion of St. Paul.
Until he was about thirty years old, Paul, also known as Saul, was a very devout Jew. In fact, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, Paul was still breathing threats to slaughter the Lord's disciples and stop the spread of Christianity. But, suddenly, while he was traveling to Damascus, there came a light from heaven. He fell to the ground, and then heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
“Who are you, Lord?” he asked, and the voice answered, “I am Jesus, and you are persecuting me. Get up now and go into the city, and you will be told what you have to do.” Struck blind, Paul was led by the hand to Damascus where a Christian named Ananias laid hands on him and prayed. Immediately, it was as though scales fell away from Saul's eyes and he could see again. So, he was baptized. After he had spent only a few days with the disciples in Damascus, he began preaching in the synagogues, “Jesus is the Son of God”.
Realizing Jesus was alive, and that he truly was God and the Savior of the World, Paul converted to Catholicism and became the greatest missionary in the history of the Catholic Church. Paul brought Christianity to Turkey, Greece, Italy, and Spain before his martyrdom in Rome around 65 or 66 AD.
Once Paul encountered Jesus, everything changed. Lord, I want this encounter. Why do you hide yourself from me?
Two
Do you ever feel that way? Like God is hiding from you? I do. In fact, this morning I was feeling that way.
Then I sensed the Lord saying to me, “Michael, I don’t hide from you. You hide from me.”
“What do you mean Lord, when do I hide from you?”
“Michael, you come to Mass and receive me in Communion and then you immediately run away. I’m there – ready for the encounter and you flee. What was so important that you had to run away?”
Yep, that’s what we do. The risen Jesus comes to us in the Eucharist, and we run off.
If we long to encounter Jesus like St. Paul, then receive Jesus in the Eucharist and don’t run away. Remain with him, give Jesus your full undivided attention for the next 15 minutes, the time he remains physically in us, ready to pour all his graces into us. You can speak with him, tell him you love him, and listen to him, but you don’t have to do anything, just sit there and remain with him.
In the Diary of St. Faustyna she relates, “After Communion today, Jesus told me how much He desires to come to human hearts. He said: ‘I desire to unite Myself with human souls; My great delight is to unite Myself with souls. Know, My daughter, that when I come to a human heart in Holy Communion, My hands are full of all kinds of graces which I want to give to the soul. But souls do not even pay any attention to Me; they leave Me to Myself and busy themselves with other things. Oh, how sad I am that souls do not recognize Love! They treat Me as a dead object.’” (Diary 1385)
Three
We can have a real encounter with Jesus every day by reading the Bible.
We read or listen to such an overwhelming amount of information every day. We know what’s happening on every continent, in every entertainer and sport icon’s life, but we spend so little time listening to Jesus speak to us in the Bible.
God only wrote one book, and while He was writing it through the inspired human authors, He was thinking of you. Because He’s always been thinking of you. So, He knew which parts of the Bible you would read, and when you’d read them. Scripture was written for you, to you. It was written for your benefit, with you in mind.
So open that book up. It’s not just a message for humanity in general. He wrote this book with messages for you in particular.
So read and listen to what Jesus has to say to you today. He is waiting to speak with you.
Do you have the time?
Four
The most immediate way to encounter Jesus is in prayer. Anyone who wants to encounter the Risen Jesus can do so immediately simply by turning to him, speaking to him, and listening to him. This is prayer.
What prevents us from speaking and listening to Jesus in prayer?
It may be that we want to and we try but our mind is overwhelmed by the flood of information we are inundated with. Or we are overwhelmed by the demands and the details of life. Or we are crushed by the pressure to produce, achieve, and succeed.
All of this crowds our mind and drives Jesus out.
Well, you are not alone. The great Catherine of Siena experienced this terrible distraction in prayer. So one day Jesus came to her when she was full of distraction and he said to her, “Catherine, I will make you a deal. Think of Me and I will think of you.” By this he meant, Catherine, if you will think of me for the next thirty minutes, then I will think about everything you are worried about and I will help you take care of it. Is that a deal?
Set aside time to give your undivided attention to Jesus for 30 minutes. Read his life and words in the Gospel. And surrender everything you are worried about to him. He will not let you down.
Five
The result of an encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist, Scripture, and prayer is joy.
Because of his encounter with Jesus St. Paul was the Apostle of Joy. He said, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.”
What is joy? Joy is the feeling that comes from the awareness of possessing some good thing: a good meal, a job well done, a good friend, a good book. But we have the supreme reason for joy because we possess the greatest good, we have Jesus, and that should cause us to be supremely joyful.
Paul tells us that nothing can take Jesus from us in Romans 8: 31-39.
Nothing, therefore, can come between us and the love of Christ, even if we are troubled or worried, or being persecuted, or lacking food or clothes, or being threatened or even attacked…These are the trials through which we triumph, by the power of him who loved us. For I am certain of this: neither death nor life, no angel, no prince, nothing that exists, nothing still to come, not any power, or height or depth, nor any created thing, can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Jesus will make everything work in our favor, he says in Romans 8:28. We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him. Joy, like love, is a choice and a behavior. Practice joy, practice the awareness that you possess God and He will take care of you and somehow work this in your favor.