In the history of the Catholic Church, no conversion has had greater consequence than St. Paul’s conversion. Paul had not been ambivalent toward the Church before his conversion. We hear him testify very honestly throughout his letters in the New Testament, including the reading we hear today. To the contrary, Paul was never ambivalent about anything, as he had actively persecuted the Church prior to his conversion. At the very least, Paul had stood by while Stephen was stoned to death. Paul may have even thrown some of the rocks himself. But Paul was converted and transformed. It was God who changed him. Through Paul’s transformation, Christianity was transformed too. It was not just Christianity that was transformed through Paul. The entire world was transformed as well. Today’s feast celebrates Paul’s transformation and conversion.
What if Paul’s conversion never took place? What if St. Paul had remained a zealous jew and had never converted to the way of Jesus? What if Paul had never been called to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles? What if he had never written his letters and had never traveled on his missionary journeys? It would be safe to say that the world itself, not just the Church, would be a very different place than it is today. Perhaps if it was not for Paul, Christianity would have remained confined to Israel for many more centuries before breaking out into wider Europe. We will never know.
As we celebrate Paul’s conversion today, let us think about all the ways we still need conversion in our own lives. Let us pray with St Paul for the conversion of our brothers and sisters. And our own conversion as well.
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