The Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, Apostle, Saturday, January 25, 2025

Mark 16, 15-18

Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

In the case of a conversion to the Faith, Almighty God provides all the grace that is necessary.  For most people who convert, the movement of grace within them is subtle, a seed putting down roots underground before it ever puts stem and leaves above ground.  At some point, a person experiences a “lightbulb” moment when the understanding and the heart see the truth of the Faith and feel the love of God and love for God.  An outside observer may see nothing, but for the person experiencing this, everything has changed.  

The Scriptures tell us of how this befell Saul of Tarsus.  The drama of it all — the blazing light, the falling to the ground as though shoved, and the Voice with which he converses — tell us how dedicated and fanatical a Pharisee he was, that this was necessary for him to convert.  

St. Paul came to fall deeply in love with the Lord Jesus: “To me, to live is Christ: and to die is gain” (Philippians 1, 21).  His passion for the Lord drove him to far places in all conditions: Of the Jews five times did I receive forty stripes save one.  Thrice was I beaten with rods: once I was stoned: thrice I suffered shipwreck: a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea. In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils from false brethren.  In labor and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness” (2 Corinthians 11, 24-27).  

The Holy Church holds this Feast as a celebration for the sanctity and love of Jesus which he attained and for the work which his conversion led to, himself converting thousands of souls and providing future generations of believers with the example of his life and the teachings in his letters, both of which aid us to grow in our own love of the Lord and zeal for his cause.

Through his prayers, may we, through whatever vocation and state of life the Lord calls us to, “go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.”  Even confined to our homes, we may join in this great work through the invaluable prayers and penances we raise to Almighty God.