(Credits : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPlez-rwhKY)
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, the event in which the ‘most ferocious enemy of the Church became its most zealous son and missionary’.
St. Paul, named Saul at his circumcision, a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, was born at Tarsus, the capital of Cilicia. He was a Roman citizen. He was brought up as a strict Jew, and later became a violent persecutor of the Christians.
While on his way to Damascus to make new arrests of Christians, he was suddenly converted by a miraculous apparition of Our Lord. From a fierce persecutor he became the great Apostle of the Gentiles.
Fourteen of his Epistles are found in the New Testament.
He was beheaded in Rome around 66 A.D., and his relics are in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls near the Ostian Way.
Conversion is a lifetime experience!
Things to do
First, it’s OK to be human and act crazy.
Paul might have driven the people around him crazy, but I’m sure that his friends knew that he was absolutely brilliant, absolutely driven and absolutely in love with Christ.
Second, sometimes, you need to be knocked off the horse.
Once we, in our humility, recognize that it is the Lord and the Lord alone who can heal us when we are thrown off, then and only then can true healing begin.
And third, you have to give a person a chance.
In our lives, we have to trust people and to give that second chance, within reason, to our brothers and sisters who have hurt us, to learn to forgive, if not forget.
May we who are already converted to Christ become more fully converted to the teachings of Christ in all we do and say.
Quiz Time
1. Click on the correct options
2. At the end, click on the submit
3. Then click on the View Accuracy to see your result.
4. Have fun while you learn your faith.
