20220125 CONVERSION OR COMPLETION
25 January, 2022, Tuesday, Conversion of St Paul, Apostle
First reading | Acts 22:3-16 © |
'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?'
Paul said to the people, ‘I am a Jew and was born at Tarsus in Cilicia. I was brought up here in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was taught the exact observance of the Law of our ancestors. In fact, I was as full of duty towards God as you are today. I even persecuted this Way to the death, and sent women as well as men to prison in chains as the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify, since they even sent me with letters to their brothers in Damascus. When I set off it was with the intention of bringing prisoners back from there to Jerusalem for punishment.
‘I was on that journey and nearly at Damascus when about midday a bright light from heaven suddenly shone round me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” I answered: Who are you, Lord? and he said to me, “I am Jesus the Nazarene, and you are persecuting me.” The people with me saw the light but did not hear his voice as he spoke to me. I said: What am I to do, Lord? The Lord answered, “Stand up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told what you have been appointed to do.” The light had been so dazzling that I was blind and my companions had to take me by the hand; and so I came to Damascus.
‘Someone called Ananias, a devout follower of the Law and highly thought of by all the Jews living there, came to see me; he stood beside me and said, “Brother Saul, receive your sight.” Instantly my sight came back and I was able to see him. Then he said, “The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will, to see the Just One and hear his own voice speaking, because you are to be his witness before all mankind, testifying to what you have seen and heard. And now why delay? It is time you were baptised and had your sins washed away while invoking his name.”’
Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 116(117) © |
Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News.
or
Alleluia!
O praise the Lord, all you nations,
acclaim him all you peoples!
Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News.
or
Alleluia!
Strong is his love for us;
he is faithful for ever.
Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News.
or
Alleluia!
Gospel Acclamation | cf.Jn15:16 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I chose you from the world
to go out and bear fruit,
fruit that will last,
says the Lord.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Mark 16:15-18 © |
Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News
Jesus showed himself to the Eleven and said to them:
‘Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation. He who believes and is baptised will be saved; he who does not believe will be condemned. These are the signs that will be associated with believers: in my name they will cast out devils; they will have the gift of tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and be unharmed should they drink deadly poison; they will lay their hands on the sick, who will recover.’
CONVERSION OR COMPLETION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Acts 22:3-16 or Acts 9:1-22; Ps 117:1-2; Mark 16:15-18]
We often see our work of evangelization as a way to proselytize non-Christians and convert them to our faith. This is not wrong but a negative way in understanding evangelization. Rather, the work of evangelization is to lead people of other faiths and cultures to discover that Christ is their Saviour. But this does not mean that conversion or acceptance of Christ requires them to completely give up their culture or even their faith. It might be better to see that conversion is the fulfilment of what they already believe incipiently. Vatican II in the Decree regarding Non-Christian religions says, “The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions. She regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men. Indeed, she proclaims, and ever must proclaim Christ ‘the way, the truth, and the life’ (John 14:6), in whom men may find the fullness of religious life, in whom God has reconciled all things to Himself.” (Nostra Aetate, 2)
This was the case of St Paul’s conversion. Although the feast speaks about his conversion, it is not the case of changing religion for him. On the contrary, St Paul wanted to underscore that his conversion was the fulfilment of God’s plan for Israel. Judaism in the understanding of St Paul was destined for fulfilment in Christ. Indeed, throughout his life, St Paul was proud of his Jewish heritage and the faith that he was raised in. In the first reading, St Paul said, “I am a Jew and was born at Tarsus in Cilicia. I was brought up here in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was taught the exact observance of the Law of our ancestors. In fact, I was as full of duty towards God as you are today. I even persecuted this Way to the death, and sent women as well as men to prison in chains as the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify, since they even sent me with letters to their brothers in Damascus. When I set off it was with the intention of bringing prisoners back from there to Jerusalem for punishment.” St Paul never denied his identity as a Jew and more than that, he was a true Jew, faithful to the Law of his ancestors and committed to the tradition of Judaism.
However, his prejudice against the Christian Jews changed when he encountered the Lord on his way to Damascus. There he saw a bright light from heaven. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” When he asked, “Who are you, Lord?”, the voice answered, “I am Jesus the Nazarene, and you are persecuting me.” That was the beginning of his conversion experience, not to Christianity but primarily to Christ. Such a radical experience could not be described because every religious experience is unique to the individual. Later on, he spoke of this mystical experience when he said, “whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows – was caught up into Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat.” (2 Cor 12:3f)
However, St Paul made it clear that although this was a personal experience, it was also an objective experience. He was not making up any story or hallucinating in any way. Christ did appear to him as he said. There were witnesses to this encounter. The men travelling with him heard the voice too but could see no one. The men saw the dazzling light but could not figure out whose voice it was. Clearly, for St Paul, this experience was so real that he became blind. When he got up and opened his eyes, he could see nothing. So much so that his men had to lead him “by the hand and brought him to Damascus. For three days he was unable to see, and he neither ate nor drank.” It was important for Paul that he had witnesses to vouch for what happened to him even though they themselves did not have the vision.
His inability to see was in truth, a dramatic message from the Lord that he was blinded by his misguided zeal. He thought what he did was for God. He was sincere in persecuting those Jews for betraying the faith. But after his encounter with the Lord, he knew that Christ was truly the Son of God. In fact, soon after he recovered from his blindness, and regaining his strength, “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.” (Acts 9:20-22)
But we must be careful not to think that St Paul was preaching a new religion. As far as he was concerned, Jesus was the fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies. He was the Messiah foretold by the prophets from of Old. This fact is strengthened by the reference to Ananias. He was “a devout follower of the Law and highly thought of by all the Jews.” He was a good Jew and also a good Christian. There was no contradiction in being a good Jew and a good Christian. Both were not incompatible. Furthermore, when Ananias went to see Saul and gave him back his sight, he said, “The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will, to see the Just One and hear his own voice speaking, because you are to be his witness before all mankind, testifying to what you have seen and heard. And now why delay? It is time you were baptised and had your sins washed away while invoking his name.” This God that Ananias believed is the same God of their ancestors who has appointed Jesus to be the Christ and the Saviour. So Christianity is not an entirely new religion, nor an offshoot of Judaism. Rather it is a fulfilment of Judaism.
This explains why Paul, when preaching Christ, also began with the Jews because he saw them as the Chosen People of God. They were called to be the light to the Gentiles. St Paul in all his missionary trips would proclaim the gospel to the Jews, and only went to the Gentiles when they were rejected. Paul and Barnabas told the Jews in Antioch in Pisidia, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you. Since you reject it and judge yourselves to be unworthy of eternal life, we are now turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, ‘I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles, so that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.'” (Acts 13:46f)
Indeed, St Paul was God’s choice to be His apostle to the Gentiles. Against human logic and calculation, Ananias obeyed the Lord to welcome Saul and baptized him even though he had misgivings. 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.” Ananias without questioning trusted in the Lord and went to see Saul and laid 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.
We too, must be like Ananias, be ready to welcome non-Christians into our midst, treating them like brothers. We must welcome them and sinners into our community so that by our love and witnessing of Christ in our lives, we will also remove their prejudices from their eyes and see Christ as the fulfilment of their search for truth and love and discover in Him the Way, the Truth and the Life. Indeed, we must be sensitive to the cultures and religions of others whilst sharing and proclaiming Christ to them. Rather than get involved in polemics and arguments, we must testify to Christ in our lives, how we experience Him and how He has changed us and given us new hope and life. It is by our personal testimony as St Paul did, backed up by scriptures that we can lead others to confess in Christ as their Saviour.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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