Fr Alex Swain
Beloved in Christ,
Today we observe the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle.
Saul, an incredibly educated and observant Jewish man, who later in life becomes a chief opponent to the budding Christian movement, suddenly becomes a convert after encountering Christ.
The life and witness of Paul brims with potential, shock, twists-and-turns, and non-linear development.
Saul, before he was Paul, oversaw the stoning of Stephen in Acts: “Then they dragged him (Stephen) out of the city and began to stone him, and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul… and Saul approved of their killing him.” (Acts 7:58, 8:1).
Saul then leads “severe persecution” (Acts 8:1) against the Church in Jerusalem, ravaging the church, dragging people out of their houses, and placing them in prison.
He is a man of violence, a man of action, a man willing to destroy families for the sake of his understanding of righteousness.
Acts 9 continues the saga of Saul, and it is here that, on his way to Damascus to stamp out the Christians there, he encounters the risen Christ. He is struck blind and is taken in by a disciple in Damascus.
Here Saul becomes wholly converted to the cause of Christ.
It is a radical about-face.
It is a reminder that we are so much more than the sum of our actions, and that at any moment we can change and respond to the call of God on our lives ever more fully.
It is a reminder that the way things are never need to be the way things will be.
The conversion of St. Paul is a profound reminder that we can hope and dream and seek the coming of Christ to change the hearts and minds of the most hard-hearted and dark-minded.
The conversion of St. Paul should give us hope. For God says of Saul, “he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel…” (Acts 9:15).
And we, and even those most opposed to the hope and realities of God, can be changed and made an instrument of God’s goodness.
And this is a profound gift. Thanks be to God! And may St. Paul the Apostle pray for us as we celebrate this momentous occasion!
Yours in Christ,
—Fr Alex