Today, we celebrate the conversion of Paul, as we hear the very dramatic account of his conversion from the Acts of the Apostles, of how he was traveling on the road to Damascus when a bright light and the voice of God came down from the heavens. Perhaps many of us would like to experience such a dramatic and clear event in our own journeys of faith when we are trying to make a decision or when we are searching for direction in life.
Paul heard God calling him to a special mission: to bring the Good New of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. Paul had been a persecutor of Christians up to this point in his life. However, Paul himself ended up being persecuted for the faith, spending an estimated time of more than 3 years in prison for his role in preaching the Gospel to the world. I think of this whenever I go to the correctional institutions to celebrate mass with the inmates there. Prior to his conversion, Paul had been very strict in his Jewish faith and very zealous in his devotion to God's laws. We can only imagine how strong a conversion Paul had to experience in order to stay true to his calling through his struggles and hardships. Paul spent much of his ministry spreading the Way of Jesus to Gentiles, people whom the Jewish faith would have considered unclean.
Paul has had a tremendous influence on our Catholic faith, so much so that we celebrated the 2000th anniversary of Paul’s birth as a jubilee year as declared by Pope Benedict XVI back in 2008 and 2009, with Benedict XVI declaring that "the church today needs modern Christians who will imitate the apostle's missionary energy and spirit of sacrifice.” We give thanks for the conversion Paul received in his life, and the conversions that still go on in our Church today. We pray for those in the RCIA program here at St Jude and throughout the Diocese who will be entering the Church this year. As we celebrate Paul's conversion today, let us truly appreciate Paul and the others who have passed down their faith to us.
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