YEAR OF ST. PAUL, APOSTLE
FEAST OF THE CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL
JANUARY 24/25, 2009
Many of us are familiar with at least the broad outlines of the life of St. Paul. Paul in today’s first reading gives us a bit of his biography. Born a Jew, a member of the Pharisee sect, he became a naturalized Roman citizen. Paul, whose given name was Saul, figures prominently in the death of the first Christian martyr, the deacon St. Stephen. While he may not have physically participated in Stephen’s death by stoning, we are told the “witnesses laid their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul” (AA 7:58). Following this Paul, while travelling the road to Damascus in Syria to engage in a similar purge of the Christian sect, experienced his famous encounter with the Risen Jesus which became the turning point of his life. From this encounter Paul turned from being the principal persecutor of the early church to being its greatest missionary, carrying the gospel message to the whole known world of his day. Finally, arrested for his faith in Jesus and his work in spreading the gospel, Paul, exercising his right as a Roman citizen to have his case heard by the emperor, was taken to Rome, where under Emperor Nero he died a martyr, shortly after the martyrdom of St. Peter.
So what is the message of St. Paul and today’s celebration for us? The answer lies, I believe, in the experience of the encounter that Paul had with Jesus on the road to Damascus and its aftermath. Two points highlighted by our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI in his homily on St. Paul last June 28th in Rome as he opened this special year of reflection on the person and message of the Apostle as related in today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles stand out.
First, Paul encounters not the Jesus of history who lived in Palestine, but the dead and Risen Lord of Glory who lives, speaks and acts in and through the lives of those who believe in him, the Church then, as now. In stating to St. Paul that in his persecution of Jesus’ followers “you persecute me” Jesus reveals the beginnings of the doctrine on the Church as the Body of Christ which Paul would develop in his preaching and letters. In the Church we encounter the person of Jesus himself, who as the Risen One, remains “flesh”. He has a Body, the person of every believer, you and me! He is personally present in his Church. “Head and Body” form one being. From this truth flows the doctrine of the Eucharistic mystery, in which Christ continually gives his Body and makes us his Body. The sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist are the center of the Church’s life and the life of each of her members. Through them, each of us experiences our own personal encounter with Jesus on the road of our life and from that meeting with the Risen One is offered the same grace that transformed St. Paul, the second point of today’s feast; the realization that Jesus loves me and gave himself for me.
St. Paul’s faith is the experience of being loved by Jesus Christ in a very personal way. It is the awareness of the fact that Christ did not face death for something anonymous but for love of him—Paul—and that, as the Risen One, he still loves him. Paul’s faith is being struck by the love of Jesus Christ, a love that overwhelms him to his depths and transforms him. His faith is not a theory, an opinion about God and the world. His faith is the impact of God’s love in his heart a personal encounter, a personal relationship of reciprocal love. So much did this experience affect St. Paul that he would go on to say, “I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; …I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and has given himself up for me” (Gal. 2:20). The life of Paul and the life of Jesus are one; one in love. Jesus offers this gift of grace to each of us too. It changed St. Paul. It can change us. Imagine how different our lives, the church, the world would be if each of us lived fully this divine love in our daily thoughts, words, moral choices and actions!
Lord, meet us again today in this Mass on our road of life. Help us recognize your infinite love for each of us. Transform us into your image. Make us missionaries. St. Paul, pray for us!