Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, Apostle
After I graduated from high school I fell away from the Church. Truthfully, in my heart, I had fallen away long before that. Although my entire education took place in Roman Catholic schools, it felt very oppressing and I was only going through the motions from the time I was a sophomore in high school my mid-twenties. That is when my husband and I started our family and I knew we must care for the spirituality of our children. While I did all the things I was supposed to do as far as educating and informing our children about the Catholic faith, I had never had a personal experience of Jesus. Now I know how important that was.
Today’s Scriptures relate St. Paul’s experience of conversion. It is a spectacular testimony of a personal conversion. St. Paul, the author of our most powerful Epistles in the New Testament, is struck suddenly by Jesus—the Savior of the Universe-and is converted to believe in Him as THE CHRIST! Paul was literally knocked off his horse and blinded by his encounter with Jesus. This does not happen very often and, for most of us, is not the way we get to know Jesus.
If we are fortunate enough to encounter Jesus the way St. Paul did, we may already know exactly where our life will lead and exactly we must accomplish this. However, for the majority of us, our encounter with Our Savoir is a much less spectacular event. To know what Jesus asks of us requires the ongoing relationship; we must work to stay close to Jesus. Nevertheless, we know it is real. How can we respond to this encounter that is so personal and yet so real? Today, at the end of Mark’s Gospel, Jesus commands his disciples “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.” (Mk 16:15) How this particular command expresses itself in our own lives depends on our listening to our Master. It is wholly dependent upon our willingness to persevere and our willingness to listen—always be open to listening to the Master. May God, through Our Blessed Virgin Mary, grant us the grace to always listen for the voice of our Savior. Amen.
- Gail Lyman
--Gail Lyman