Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, the apostle
Conversion means "to turn about" and that's what Paul's conversion in Damascus (Acts 22:3-16; Acts 9:1-22) reminds me of - he did a very quick turnabout from being a hater of Christians to being their apostle! If anyone was astonished by Paul's turning, it must have been the original apostles who knew Paul to be a persecutor and no friend. The shorter second version says exactly that the people were "confounded" by Paul. Paul himself was confounded, too, the scriptures make clear.
We tend to use the word "conversion" to refer to people who "turn" toward Christianity (in the case of people who have never been baptized) or toward the Catholic Church in particular if they are currently Christian but experience a "turn" toward Catholicism. Today's feast ought to cause us to reflect on other kinds of conversions too, however, and think about the ways in which we might emulate Paul's conversion to God in our own lives. For example, I think of a friend of mine who had a full scholarship to Oxford University but left after a year to become a priest. The kind of conversion he had to go through in his mind and heart from "Free ride at a prestigious university to become a Classics scholar" to "priest in a mendicant order, giving away all possessions." His friends and family, just like Paul's acquaintances, were "confounded." I think, too, of friends who had determined not to have children at all but then experienced a conversion and now have five - when they first bought a station wagon, they thought about how astounding life can get. Or, I think of another person who was working at an 80-hour week job as an attorney, experienced a conversion of heart and left it all to teach preschool kids. Or a family decided to move and do medical mission work in Haiti. There are smaller conversions too. Some people have health conversions - eating better, getting more exercise, and the like. This in turn enables them to be more energetic disciples. A person I know used to be considered grouchy and angry toward everyone; now he tries to be one of the most gentle, kind people toward everyone he meets. The church's tradition of morning prayer offers us a new day every day to convert our lives to God, to be the loving, generous, joyful people God wants us to be. Conversions happen often (though it may take a while to see that a conversion has happened, as with my own coming to the church) , and just as often they confound us. Reading the gospel, however (Mark 16:15-18), we see that the apostles should not have been confounded, nor perhaps, should we. Jesus' coming means that wild and crazy things will happen, even to me! I suspect that being a Christian means that one is always "turning" toward God and that there will be all kinds of little and great conversions. Perhaps rather than being confounded, we ought to take the time to celebrate God's presence. Today, let us take time to thank God for the conversions we have already made, and be open to the continued converting presence of God in our lives. - Jana M. Bennett
Conversion does do that to a person. When I think about the fact that I am Catholic, I am confounded myself. I grew up in a Protestant church with all the typical anti-Catholic sentiments (Catholics worship Mary and idols, and don't read the Bible, among other things), but eventually I fell so much in love with the sacraments, with the Church's long history of trying - not always well - to follow God, and with the beauty of the Church's theology that I HAD to become Catholic. My parents still do not understand, to this day, which is another reason I am surprised I converted: I was never a person who did things to upset her parents. My own conversion took much longer than Paul's - eight years. I do have friends, though, who've have those "blinding light on the road to Damascus" conversions though, and I'm always amazed by God's power.