Dear Parishioners of Mary Immaculate and Saint Rose,

The 25th of January is the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul. It celebrates an event that has tremendous significance, perhaps the most important event to affect Christianity other than the Resurrection of Jesus.

Saul is a devout Jew. He believes himself to be doing the will of God. He is zealous in his persecution of the Christians. He sees them as a serious threat to his own religion.  He has obtained the permission of the chief priest to travel to Damascus in order to stamp out the Christians in that city. He is on his way when a most extraordinary thing occurs: There is a blinding light. It is so intense and overpowering that it knocks Saul to the ground. Then there is a voice which only Saul can hear, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" It is the Lord Jesus. When the light fades, Saul is blind. How strange that with so much light there is now only darkness. But Saul still does not know Jesus.
Saul has been instructed to go into Damascus and to seek out Ananias, who is a follower of Jesus. In my mind, Ananias is the great unsung hero in this story. He was afraid of Saul, and yet he trusted God enough to go to Saul, who had the power to imprison or even kill him. Ananias overcame his fear and did as the Lord asked. Ananias instructed Saul in the Christian Faith. Saul accepted what he was taught. It was an amazing conversion.

Conversion is accepting a truth and conforming oneself to it. Saul had to change his whole way of thinking. He had to overcome not only his total hatred for Christianity, but also his abhorrence of the Gentiles. The zeal that Saul had for his old way of life is transferred to his new faith in Jesus.  He not only accepts the faith; he becomes its greatest apostle. Saul, who takes the Greek form of his name as he ministers to the Gentiles, is now Paul. Paul faces all sorts of difficulties. First of all he must face the distrust of Christians who are not quite certain of his conversion.  Then he must deal with the Jews who see him as a traitor to their faith. Paul goes on to spread the Christian faith throughout much of the known world. He endures imprisonment, beatings, shipwrecks, and eventually martyrdom for the faith that he once persecuted. The Church would not be what it is today without the zeal, dedication and tenacity of Saint Paul.

It reminds me that we are all called to a continuous state of ongoing conversion. Like Saint Paul, we are constantly seeking (or perhaps still getting ready to begin seeking. . .) to overcome our spiritual blindness, to turn away from sin and to live in the light of the Gospel. If we desire to do God's will in our life we must continually strive to cooperate with his grace. Saint Paul was always faced with obstacles and dangers, yet he trusted that God would be with him and lead him through. We can do no less. We are called to be witnesses to Jesus. We are to serve him in all things. May God bless us with the grace to persevere in living our faith, especially in these difficult times.
  
O God, who taught the whole world through the preaching of the blessed apostle Paul, draw us we pray, nearer to you through the example of him whose conversion we celebrate today, and so make us witnesses to your truth in the world. ~From the collect from the feast of the conversion of St. Paul

Msgr. Cox
The Conversion of St. Paul  Jacques Gamelin (1785)