Conversion of St. Paul
Readings:
Acts 22:3-16
Mark 16:15-18
Reflection:
If ever there was an example of loving your enemies, three come to mind. The first is today’s feast and reading of St. Paul struck down and confronted with the destruction and cruelty that his life has been. Paul lies blind, dumb, and paralysed on the ground. Paul doesn’t seek forgiveness; he probably feels beyond it. It is Ananias, a Christian, who seeks Saul out and leads him by the hand to healing and to a different future. For those early Christians, what Ananias did was like inviting Saddam Hussein, Idi Amin or Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi into your family home to look after them.
For Paul, conversion came from this totally unmerited and, at the time, unsought gift of forgiveness by those he had treated as hated enemies. He could have gotten up, shaken off this ‘unusual’ moment of self-doubt, …. put it down to exhaustion ….. had a good rest and returned to torturing and killing Christians. But we know how this gift was lived and treasured and shaped the rest of his life – that was the choice Paul made.
Of course, the second is obvious – Jesus being nailed to the cross and his praying, as they hammered the nails into his wrists and ankles: ‘Father, forgive them, they know not what they do”. I sometimes think about that prayer of Jesus arising out of unbearable pain. Jesus is actually saying and meaning: “Father, can you forgive them? I can’t; it’s too hard, but can you forgive them for me?”. Whatever, Jesus wanted them forgiven.
For the centurion responsible, experiencing this gift of forgiveness offered by a tortured and convicted criminal, he was executing ….., well, this opened his eyes, and he became the first person in the gospel to recognise and proclaim Jesus as the son of God.
How did this play out in his life ….. an invitation to a new way of living after the dehumanising life he had led? Or did he shrug it off and go back to torture and killing? We don’t know, but the choice was now his!
The third is the tragic accident in 2022, when Leila and Danny Abdullah lost three of their children and their niece when a drunken, drugged driver ploughed into them. The children were Sienna (8), Angelina (12) and Antony (13) and their niece was Veronique (11). That same day, Danny explained, “ …I was faced with a question. A question no father should ever be asked. What a tough question! …… I forgave the driver that tragically killed our children”. We know what Danny chose to do.
The driver, Samuel, was jailed for 28 years but turned to Christianity after the impact of being forgiven, which was totally undeserved and so freely offered. Samuel said he had discovered Christ. We may be cynical, of course. We can say wait and see how will Samuel’s life unfold. But the choice is now his!
Tom Mcdonough CP is the parish priest and community leader at St. Paul of the Cross, Glen Osmond.