On this day, January 25, the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, Apostle. There is much more meaning to discover and appreciate in his story.
We hear the name of Saint Paul the Apostle almost every Sunday Mass. The Epistles of Paul or Letters of Paul are 13 Books in the New Testament from which some First Readings and most Second Readings are taken from. As inspired by the Holy Spirit, Paul had written in these epistles numerous teachings on how to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.
Saint Paul became God’s most zealous apostle- the greatest of the Christian missionaries in our early Church. But did you know that before he became one of the most important instruments of the conversion of the world, he went through a personal conversion of his own?
On a personal note, I want to share with you, brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, that I am very much grateful for the holy intercession of Saint Paul the Apostle, whom my family dearly calls “San Pablo,” in this Roman Catholic life.
I greet my beloved Parish, St. Paul the Apostle Parish in Quezon City, the Philippines, a Happy Feast Day of San Pablo!
May Saint Paul the Apostle guide all who read this post, and be our companion in our walk towards our path to holiness; the road to God in Heaven.
Mass Readings for the Day:
Acts 22:3-16 or Acts 9:1-22; Psalm117:1BC, 2; John 15:16; Mark 16:15-18
Read the following story of his conversion, followed by My Reflection on its meaning in our lives.
The Conversion of Saint Paul the Apostle
Paul, called “Saul,” as first mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, was a most fiery Jew of the tribe of Benjamin. Educated as a Pharisee, he was the most committed to the observance of God’s Law (Jewish Law) and Jewish traditions than all his peers. He believed that the early Christians of the Catholic Church were deviating from the Jews and had much hatred for them. He became one of the leaders of persecutions of the early Christians and Church in Jerusalem. He was among those who plotted the martyrdom of the first ever Martyr of the Church, Saint Stephen. Thus, he was among the worst enemies of Jesus; a blasphemer and persecutor of the Church.
God, in His grace, had shown great mercy to Paul as the Risen Jesus Christ appeared to him:
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.
– Acts 9:3-9
Jesus appeared to a certain virtuous and respected Jew named “Ananias” and commanded him to baptize Saul:
There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias, 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 named Saul. 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 Israelites, 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.
– Acts 9:10-19
After regaining his sight from blindness and being baptized, Saul began his mission of proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God, preaching far and wide to the uttermost parts of the earth. Doing all that, Saul eventually became one of the faithful followers who would later fulfill the mission Jesus first entrusted to His foremost Disciples. We read this in Gospel of Mark for the day, which says:
Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.”
– Mark 16:15
Saul is called “Paul” for the first time in Acts 13:9. It’s quite a common misconception that his name was changed following his conversion. He actually had two names: Saul, his Semitic name, and Paul, his Greco-Roman name. Perhaps he personally preferred “Paul” given that he was called in this name much later on, even in the Letters he authored.
Saint Paul, after surviving stoning and various shipwrecks, traveled more than a total of 10,000 miles going to different countries, doing his missions, establishing Catholic churches, and writing teachings for the people through letters. These epistles are a treasured record of the early Catholic Church and of how Christianity has spread in the world.
The life of Paul, who was once an enemy of God and the Church, culminated in the shedding of the last drop of his blood when he died by beheading in Rome as a Martyr for Jesus Christ.
Evidently, the story of Saint Paul is a perfect example of true conversion by a miracle of the grace from God. Though not an entirely popular Feast celebration, the Church has been commemorating the miraculous conversion of Saint Paul for more than 1500 years, being mentioned in the calendars and missals as early as the 8th and 9th centuries.
***
My Reflection
With the light of God, see what truly matters in life
1. In the First Reading, I think that it was implied that Saint Paul the Apostle comprehended that his achievements in life actually led him to do evil:
“I persecuted this Way to death, binding both men and women and delivering them to prison.”
– Acts 22:4
2. When Jesus appeared with a light in the sky, Paul became blind. I personally suppose that the symbolism of his blindness is that Jesus showed Paul that he was ‘blinded’ by his mission of persecuting the Church and the early Christians; that what he wanted to accomplish were all in blindness- contrary to what he thought he was doing, which was in his mind was for the God of the Jews, he was actually living in the dark.
3. How many of us fall into the same blindness that Paul went through? In our lives, we all desire to pursue true happiness. But what we forget is that at times, we cross the line of pursuing worldly desires instead.
4. This causes worldly anxieties that take us away from God. Sometimes we think that “we are doing this for God,” that our quests for human accomplishments are for the glory of God. We fail to realize that on the other hand, those things turn us away from God and we become worldlings, blinded by our worldly concerns.
5. More so, this worldliness prevents us from developing constant prayer and Catholic lives. Our conscience eventually becomes blinded. We then fail to discern what is right against wrong.
6. Let us not wait until God sends His punishment, or severe trials in life, before we start to repent and get awakened in our blindness. Let us all see the world with the light of God; that what truly matters in life are the things we do in obedience to the Commandments of God, which get our souls in a better state.
Ask for the Grace of God
1. In choosing Saint Paul the Apostle to fulfill an extraordinarily lifelong mission, Jesus granted him an enormous grace to see Him “in person” in an Apparition. However, not everyone is called by God in the very same way as He did with Paul. For the vast majority, Jesus will never appear to us in an apparition. Only the Saints were given by God the grace to have visions or apparitions of Jesus, Mama Mary, and other Saints in their lifetimes. Their souls were so high in sanctity that God deemed them worthy of an incredible calling and receiving such grace.
2. For the rest of us, not seeing God in a direct vision is not an excuse to not believing in Him. Both doubters of the Catholic Church and unbelievers of God give all sorts of excuses just to disprove the Catholic Church and God. Many say that “to see is to believe,” but that’s putting their own souls in danger of eternal damnation. For when will Jesus ever appear to them in person just to get them convinced?
3. The life of Paul and his Epistles in the Bible urge all of us to have the Faith in Jesus Christ and His Catholic Church. His conversion alone, which is not merely biblical but also a proven historical account, gives us “proof” of the existence, grace and supreme power of God, sufficient enough for us to accept God and believe in Him, even without seeing. The story of Paul is not about the need to see Jesus first, but the call for every person to find Jesus in one’s life.
4. If you are right now a doubter or an unbeliever of Jesus and His Church, ask for the grace of God, and He will give it to you according to His own chosen way, so that you may see the Truth in the light of Catholic Faith, like Paul had seen.
Only with God’s grace comes a miracle
1. Though extremely intelligent, strong, courageous, Saint Paul was also a very stubborn man. Despite the Church and the early Christians, he refused to believe that Jesus was the Jews’ long-awaited Messiah. He’d got a hardened heart. But from an unbeliever and persecutor, he transformed into an inspired writer by the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. How come then that a “bad” person like him suddenly converted in an instant?
2. The only answer is God’s grace. Saint Paul received this miracle of conversion because of the grace He had given him. He certainly could not have done it by himself, just considering his hardened heart alone.
3. You might wonder why God would give the strongest enemy of Jesus and His Catholic Church at the time such a precious gift. We certainly do not know. God works in truly mysterious ways, according to His infinite wisdom and Divine plan.
4. In our own lives, we can learn from Saint Paul the Apostle that the grace of God may be given to us, if God allows it. It can be a small grace, or a life-changing grace, but it is all up to God. That is why if people tell you that the miracle you are asking for is impossible, remember Saint Paul’s story that as long as the grace you are asking for is godly, God may grant it anytime, if it is according to His will. Have faith, and let Him surprise us. Remember that God loves us and only desires what is good for us. Let us trust in God’s wisdom of varying graces to different people and to us. While we await a particular grace, let us also make ourselves as worthy as possible to receive that grace.
5. Because of God’s grace that Saint Paul received, he even surpassed fellow Christians in holiness. Can a hardened heart ever change? Let us always have hope, for a miracle is possible with God.
Do you have someone in your family who is difficult? Only God knows His good plan for your loved ones. They too can become a servant of God someday if we patiently pray for His grace.
God calls us when He calls us
1. Most of us will never be Saints raised to the altars of the Church, nor have a large-scale mission that can change the world like Saint Paul the Apostle had. We humbly recognize that we have much simpler lives, but what we learn from his story is that when God calls us, He calls us. No one can prevent the call of God to happen.
2. If we know that we receive a particular calling from God- called to get married and become parents, or called to be in a certain career, or called to pray at home, bearing an illness, or called to a higher Vocation like the consecrated life of priest or a religious nun, let us not prevent ourselves from answering this call. Let us be supportive, instead of preventing others from answering their calling.
3. When you hear the voice of God calling, like Saint Paul did, to do something good or holy, whether small or big, put yourself in the right disposition that you have no other choice but to answer His call. Saint Paul did not go anywhere else; he did not run away. That very moment, He allowed himself to receive the grace of God and simply responded to Him. When he started to change as a person, he never looked back, and just went on forward.
In times of troubles, God is still here
1. There are times when we find it hard to overcome a particular sin, whether venial or mortal, that we just want to give up and stop trying. Persecuting the Church and Christians was definitely a grave sin. But as you see in the life of Saint Paul the Apostle, God has been there all along and willed it to give him the grace to stop that sin.
2. Whenever you say to yourself, “Why can’t I ever stop this sin?” That is because you cannot stop it by yourself. You need the grace of God to be able to overcome troubles like sins. All things come from the grace of God. Let us not rely on our own will to change because it is God who has the power to be able to make the complete change happen in us. We need a constant prayer life to ask God for the grace of conversion to come.
As an example, parents might be doing all they can for a difficult child to change himself or herself. But they must know that their human ability can’t just change a person. They must ask God, who is the most loving Father, and Mama Mary, our Blessed Mother, to help the child in his or her conversion, and be good parents themselves.
3. Even in the midst of our mistakes, God can make a good out of its bad consequences, through His mercy, just like He gave to Saint Paul, for He is here for us. But let us remember to have sincere repentance and true contrition for our mistakes. If you still can make amends for your mistakes, let yourself correct those and make up for those, out of love for God and our neighbor.
I wish that the Story of Saint Paul would touch your life as it has touched mine.
Saint Paul the Apostle, pray for us!
Saint Joseph, pray for us!
Mama Mary, pray for us!
Amen.
She graduated cum laude from the University of Santo Tomas, the country's Pontifical and Catholic university, with an AB in Legal Management and minor units in Theology.
As an unmarried woman, prayer holds a central place in her daily life, with a focus on the Rosary and the Divine Office. Embodying her faith, she emphasizes the growth of her inner spiritual life, guided by the wisdom of Carmelite spirituality.
God manifested to her in a unique and radical manner, which made her know Who He truly is and led her to total surrender of her life to Him.
She has studied the Bible with her family, developing a particular fondness for the Old Testament.
Her adorable and intelligent toy poodle is a delightful companion in her daily life, bringing warmth and joy to her home.
Her hobbies include reading about everything, learning Japanese and German, listening to music and playing the flute.
In her leisure time, she enjoys gaming on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch OLED, Nintendo 3DS, iOS and OS, and collecting things related to PlayStation and Nintendo.
Email: [email protected]
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