Tuesday of 3rd Week in Ordinary Time
Conversion of St. Paul – Feast
Paul’s conversion must have been a tremendous change of mentality for him, a real conversion. Not only did a Jew who became a Christian at the same time become an outcast to his people, as he was considered a renegade, a traitor, but Paul had also been a rabbi, a Pharisee, a rabid persecutor of Christians.
And now, he follows Jesus. Christ has become his life. Like his Lord, he sits at table with sinners and tax collectors and pagans. From now on, his life is given to Christ and his kingdom, a community in which there is no more distinction between Greek and barbarian, between slaves and free citizens, between men and women, and especially between Jew and non-Jew.
Reading: Acts 22:3-16
I’ve always been passionately on God’s side, just as you are right now.
“I went after anyone connected with this ‘Way,’ went at them hammer and tongs, ready to kill for God. I rounded up men and women right and left and had them thrown in prison. You can ask the Chief Priest or anyone in the High Council to verify this; they all knew me well. Then I went off to our brothers in Damascus, armed with official documents authorizing me to hunt down the followers of Jesus there, arrest them, and bring them back to Jerusalem for sentencing.
“As I arrived on the outskirts of Damascus about noon, a blinding light blazed out of the skies and I fell to the ground, dazed. I heard a voice: ‘Saul, Saul, why are you out to get me?’
“‘Who are you, Master?’ I asked.
“He said, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, the One you’re hunting down.’ My companions saw the light, but they didn’t hear the conversation.
“Then I said, ‘What do I do now, Master?’
“He said, ‘Get to your feet and enter Damascus. There you’ll be told everything that’s been set out for you to do.’ And so we entered Damascus, but nothing like the entrance I had planned—I was blind as a bat and my companions had to lead me in by the hand.
“And that’s when I met Ananias, a man with a sterling reputation in observing our laws—the Jewish community in Damascus is unanimous on that score. He came and put his arm on my shoulder. ‘Look up,’ he said. I looked, and found myself looking right into his eyes—I could see again!
“Then he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has handpicked you to be briefed on his plan of action. You’ve actually seen the Righteous Innocent and heard him speak. You are to be a key witness to everyone you meet of what you’ve seen and heard. So what are you waiting for? Get up and get yourself baptized, scrubbed clean of those sins and personally acquainted with God.’
Gospel: Mark 16:15-18
Jesus said to the Eleven, “Go into the world. Go everywhere and announce the Message of God’s good news to one and all. Whoever believes and is baptized is saved; whoever refuses to believe is damned.
“These are some of the signs that will accompany believers: They will throw out demons in my name, they will speak in new tongues, they will take snakes in their hands, they will drink poison and not be hurt, they will lay hands on the sick and make them well.”
Prayer
Lord our God, Father of all
let our celebration today
of the conversion of St. Paul
become for us too, a deep experience
of conversion and encounter with you.
Let this feast make us more aware
that whatever evil we do to others,
we do to you
and the good we do, the love we show,
we give also to you.
Like St. Paul, make us love everyone.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Video available at: bibleclaret.org