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| “The Conversion of St. Paul” by Caravaggio, 1600 |
Reading 1: Acts 22:3-16
Paul addressed the people in
these words:
“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia ,
but brought up in this city.
At the feet of Gamaliel I was
educated strictly in our ancestral law
and was zealous for God, just
as all of you are today.
I persecuted this Way to
death,
binding both men and women
and delivering them to prison.
Even the high priest and the
whole council of elders
can testify on my behalf.
For from them I even received
letters to the brothers
and set out for Damascus to bring back to Jerusalem
in chains for punishment
those there as well.
“On that journey as I drew
near to Damascus
about noon a great light from
the sky suddenly shone around me.
I fell to the ground and
heard a voice saying to me,
‘Saul, Saul, why are you
persecuting me?’
I replied, ‘Who are you,
sir?’
And he said to me,
‘I am Jesus the Nazorean whom
you are persecuting.’
My companions saw the light
but did not hear the voice of
the one who spoke to me.
I asked, ‘What shall I do,
sir?’
The Lord answered me, ‘Get up
and go into Damascus
and there you will be told
about everything
appointed for you to do.’
Since I could see nothing
because of the brightness of that light,
I was led by hand by my
companions and entered Damascus
“A certain Ananias, a devout
observer of the law,
and highly spoken of by all
the Jews who lived there,
came to me and stood there
and said,
‘Saul, my brother, regain
your sight.’
And at that very moment I
regained my sight and saw him.
Then he said,
‘The God of our ancestors
designated you to know his will,
to see the Righteous One, and
to hear the sound of his voice;
for you will be his witness
before all
to what you have seen and
heard.
Now, why delay?
Get up and have yourself
baptized and your sins washed away,
calling upon his name.’”
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Commentary on Acts 22:3-16
This is the
second account given in Acts of Paul’s conversion experience. In this account
Paul himself recalls his role in the Hebrew Temple as an enforcer. The reason
related for his trip to Damascus was the persecution of Christians, whom he was
to return to Jerusalem in chains. By this miraculous event, Saul, who is
renamed to Paul, becomes a witness to the resurrected Christ and an Apostle.
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Or: Acts 9:1-22
Saul, still breathing
murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord,
went to the high priest and
asked him
for letters to the synagogues
in Damascus
if he should find any men or
women who belonged to the Way,
he might bring them back to Jerusalem
On his journey, as he was
nearing Damascus
a light from the sky suddenly
flashed around him.
He fell to the ground and
heard a voice saying to him,
“Saul, Saul, why are you
persecuting me?”
He said, “Who are you, sir?”
The reply came, “I am Jesus,
whom you are persecuting.
Now get up and go into the
city and you will be told what you must do.”
The men who were traveling
with him stood speechless,
for they heard the voice but
could see no one.
Saul got up from the ground,
but when he opened his eyes
he could see nothing;
so they led him by the hand
and brought him to Damascus
For three days he was unable
to see, and he neither ate nor drank.
There was a disciple in Damascus
and the Lord said to him in a
vision, “Ananias.”
He answered, “Here I am,
Lord.”
The Lord said to him, “Get up
and go to the street called Straight
and ask at the house of Judas
for a man from Tarsus
He is there praying,
and in a vision he has seen a
man named Ananias
come in and lay his hands on
him,
that he may regain his
sight.”
But Ananias replied,
“Lord, I have heard from many
sources about this man,
what evil things he has done
to your holy ones in Jerusalem
And here he has authority
from the chief priests
to imprison all who call upon
your name.”
But the Lord said to him,
“Go, for this man is a chosen
instrument of mine
to carry my name before
Gentiles, kings, and children of Israel
and I will show him what he
will have to suffer for my name.”
So Ananias went and entered
the house;
laying his hands on him, he
said,
“Saul, my brother, the Lord
has sent me,
Jesus who appeared to you on
the way by which you came,
that you may regain your
sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Immediately things like
scales fell from his eyes
and he regained his sight.
He got up and was baptized,
and when he had eaten, he
recovered his strength.
He stayed some days with the
disciples in Damascus
and he began at once to
proclaim Jesus in the synagogues,
that he is the Son of God.
All who heard him were
astounded and said,
“Is not this the man who in Jerusalem
ravaged those who call upon
this name,
and came here expressly to
take them back in chains
to the chief priests?”
But Saul grew all the
stronger
and confounded the Jews who
lived in Damascus
proving that this is the
Christ.
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Commentary on Acts 9:1-22
This selection is the first the
three accounts of Paul’s conversion. In this passage we are given more details
about the events leading up to Saul’s actual experience, adding the mindset of
Ananias and his fear of approaching Saul because of his reputation. We are also
given a little Hebrew numerology as we hear that Saul neither ate nor drank for
three days prior to his conversion, the same period Jesus was in the tomb.
According to these accounts, Saul,
the enforcer of the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem, was an involuntary convert, a
person of zeal and energy that the Lord turned, as scripture says, into God’s
instrument. Although it is only St. Luke that gives Saul the title “Apostle”
twice (Acts 14: 4; 14), this
passage provides a parallel to the call of the others; Paul sees the Kyrios, the
risen Lord; he is called, he is given the gift of the Holy Spirit, and he
proclaims Christ crucified.
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 117:1bc, 2
R. (Mark
16:15) Go out to all the world and tell
the Good News.
or:
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Praise the Lord, all you
nations;
glorify him, all you peoples!
R. Go out to all the world, and tell the Good News.
or:
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
For steadfast is his kindness
toward us,
and the fidelity of the Lord
endures forever.
R. Go out to all the world, and tell the Good News.
or:
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
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Commentary on Ps 117:1bc, 2
“This shortest of
hymns calls on the nations to acknowledge God's supremacy. The supremacy of
Israel's God has been demonstrated to them by the people's secure existence,
which is owed entirely to God's gracious fidelity.” [4] Using a refrain from St. Mark’s Gospel (Mark 16:15), the psalm is one of praise for the Good
News of God’s salvation.
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Gospel: Mark 16:15-18
Jesus appeared to the Eleven
and said to them:
“Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to
every creature.
Whoever believes and is
baptized will be saved;
whoever does not believe will
be condemned.
These signs will accompany
those who believe:
in my name they will drive
out demons,
they will speak new
languages.
They will pick up serpents
with their hands,
and if they drink any deadly
thing, it will not harm them.
They will lay hands on the
sick, and they will recover.”
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Commentary on Mk 16:15-18
In this passage we are given St.
Mark’s version of Jesus’ final commissioning of the Apostles. This Gospel
account is the final recorded meeting between Jesus and the Apostles. It is
important because it supports the universal mission of the Twelve, and also the
mission Paul is given at his time of conversion: “Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.”
CCC: Mk 16:15-16 977, 1223; Mk 16:15 888; Mk 16:16 161, 183, 1253, 1256, 1257; Mk
16:17-18 670, 1507; Mk 16:17 434, 1673; Mk 16:18 699
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Reflection:
We recall that when St.
Stephen was condemned to death, those who would execute him came and laid their
cloaks at the feet of Saul (Acts 7:58). Saul was the one identified as being the “tip
of the sword” wielded by the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem in the aftermath of the resurrection
of Christ. It was he who persecuted
those who believed that Jesus came fulfilling the Law and the Prophets, all
that he had so laboriously studied under the great Jewish scholar
Gamaliel. For him that must have been
like being trained as an astronaut and then finding out the space program was
effectively cancelled.
We observe, as we consider
his journey of faith, that his heart, so intent on serving God that it led him
to put to death those who would stray from the path he was taught, would
require drastic action to change direction.
His encounter with the Lord on the road to Damascus was transformative. The blindness he suffered was symbolic of his
interpretation of all of God’s revelation up to that point. He had seen all of the signs and completely
missed the point. His life had been
directed like the person confronted with a giant puzzle. That person was so enthralled by the pieces
that they never assembled them to see the whole beautiful picture the puzzle
was meant to represent.
St. Paul came to know the
truth. He heard the words spoken by
Jesus from heaven: “Saul, Saul, why are you
persecuting me?” But it did not begin
nor end there. It was the catalyst of
his conversion. He would spend the rest
of his life trying to forgive himself for what he had done before that
moment. We hear his remorse often in his
self-effacing writings.
In his life, we can all take
heart. We have all been guilty of not
listening to the Lord’s call to a greater or lesser degree. We often hear of momentous conversion
stories, generally affecting those who acted most contrary to the laws of God
and Christ, those who have committed heinous crimes, people like the past
president of Planned Parenthood who led the fight to legalize infanticide. Their stories of conversion are seemingly
miraculous. And it appears that those
who turned most drastically are generally the loudest proponents of our faith
after their life-changing encounter with Christ.
Each of us is also called to
conversion. For many of us it is a
gradual process, not requiring blindness or imprisonment to cause us to
recognize we were on the wrong path. If we
are lucky, these “course corrections” are gradual and we are paying
attention. At times we may take a
seriously wrong turn and be brought back sharply. All of us are undergoing this journey to
conversion. No one has come to perfect
faith except those who finally see the Lord face to face.
Today we thank God for the
gift of St. Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles.
We also ask our Heavenly Father to “deliver
us from temptation” so that we need not undergo one of those sharp changes
in our lives. Rather give us the
strength to strive constantly to see the face of Christ in those we meet, and
to look forward to the day when our journey to the Lord finds fulfillment in
the perfect love of the heavenly kingdom.
Pax
In other years: Friday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
[1]
The picture is “The Conversion of St. Paul” by Caravaggio, 1600.
[3]
The readings are taken from the New
American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were
developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This
republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4]
See NAB footnote on Psalm 117.
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