20230125 LIFE CHANGING ENCOUNTER
25 January 2023 Wednesday, 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.’
LIFE CHANGING ENCOUNTER
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Acts 22:3-16 or Acts 9:1-22; Ps 117:1-2; Mark 16:15-18]
How do we bring someone to conversion? How does conversion take place? Most of us think that conversion is through understanding. In other words, we must understand in order to believe. Such an approach to life and God of course is not wrong. We must be able to provide good reasons for our belief, otherwise we could be accused of superstition or fundamentalism.
But faith and relationship, and even in other areas of life, cannot be based solely on reason alone. Indeed, many of our decisions and convictions in life are determined not so much by reason, even if it is not excluded entirely. What we are, what we believe and what we stand for are very much coloured by our experiences in life. Experiences change our horizon in the way we look at the world and life, God included. The late Pope Emeritus Benedict highlighted this succinctly in his first pontifical encyclical when he wrote, “We have come to believe in God’s love: in these words the Christian can express the fundamental decision of his life. Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.” (Deus Caritas est, 1)
Those who reduce faith to mere understanding and cognitive knowledge remain weak in their faith. A cerebral understanding of our faith is built on sand. When the “rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Mt 7:27) Indeed, when tragedy strikes, a terminal sickness, a business failure, a betrayal, God is thrown out of the picture. When times are good, we do not mind believing in God, but when we are down and out, and God seems so far away, we will give up faith in Him. Why should we believe in the existence of God when we cannot feel His love for us?
Clearly, a weak encounter with the personal love and healing grace of God in Christ puts our faith in question and at risk. When we think of our young people in the way they are brought up in their faith, it is all information and knowledge about the teachings of the Church, with very little God-experience in class. No wonder the young people always complain that catechism classes are boring. For many of them, it is just another academic lesson, only that it takes place in the compound of the church and not in school. We have failed to impart a God-experience to them because we do not expose them sufficiently to prayer and worship, sharing of the Word of God, and by our lives of loving concern. We labour under the false notion that if they know more about their faith, they will be good Catholics.
The conversion story of St Paul is a good example to remind us that conversion is not the result of doctrinal input but a personal encounter with the Lord. We read that Paul was a devout Jew. He studied under the most famous Rabbi, 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.” How could such a person, so deeply convinced of Judaism and one who lived so faithfully the Laws, suddenly change his mind towards Christianity and proclaim Jesus as the Christ? Even the Jews were surprised. “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?'”
The answer that is beyond intellectual debate is of course his personal encounter with the Lord on his way to Damascus. Whether we agree or disagree with him in intellectual discourse about Christ, we cannot dispute his personal experience of the Risen Lord, symbolized by the bright light. The encounter was so deep, for when he fell to the ground, he 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.'” As far as St Paul was concerned, he heard the Lord clearly and distinctly and he even had a vision. When people speak from an experience, the response can only be one of belief or disbelief. Even those who claim to be visionaries are doubted. Of course, we could investigate using the rational approach, but in the final analysis, it is a question of probability, not proof. Authorities can rule out the experience, but in the end, it is a question of faith
Indeed, our experiences shape the way we form opinions and decisions. We are all coloured by our daily life experiences. Nominal Catholics are always at risk of changing their faith. They could be going for Sunday masses regularly as a matter of routine or obligation. But if one day they are awakened through a strong religious encounter in another church or even in other religions, you can be sure that he would leave the church for the religious institution that gave him the God-experience. No amount of doctrinal argument or intellectual discourse can convince one who has had a radical experience of God. So we should not be surprised if a member of our family has left the Catholic Church. The fault lies in us because we never afforded or mediated a Christ-experience to them. They are analogous to St Paul before his conversion. They know about the faith and follow the laws but they lack a personal encounter with God.
How do we know that we have had a deep encounter with the living God? How sure are we that we have had a deep religious experience? One way is the need for confirmation from religious authorities. Ananias confirmed the vision for Saul, when 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.” But confirmation from authorities is not sufficient to prove that what we have comes from God. Even authorities would look for some proof of the effects of our religious experience in our daily life before confirming our vision.
In the final analysis, we can be sure that the religious encounter is real only when we have a change of horizon; in the way we look at life. A person who has had an encounter with God is filled with faith and love for God. Not only does he change his values but he also becomes a witness to what he has seen and heard. That was what St Paul did after his conversion. When God heals us or gives us a God-experience, it is not for us to hide it but to share Him with others. Ananias in healing Paul 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.”
And that was what St Paul did. He fulfilled the plan that God had for him. “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.” St Paul gave his entire life for the gospel. If we want to be the messengers of the Good News, we too need to demonstrate in the power of the Spirit, our own personal conviction of God in our lives of service and love. Equally important, as the gospel suggests to us, is that we must not just use words but signs to “prove” that Jesus is the Christ, the love of God through our works of healing and mercy. “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 lay their hands on the sick, who will recover.”
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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