Homily for Feast of Conversion of St. Paul

Homily for the Feast
of the Conversion of St. Paul
Jan. 25, 2018
Acts 22: 3-16
Nativity, Washington, D.C.

Sometimes we speak of Paul being knocked off his high horse as he approached Damascus to arrest the Christians there.  If you look at the text, you'll see there's no mention of a horse, and he may well have been hiking.

The Conversion of St. Paul (Caravaggio)

That's not an important detail, of course.  There are 3 lessons that might draw from the story, however.

1.  Paul, convinced of his own righteousness and virtue--an ideal Jew, a well-trained Pharisee, as he mentions in his speech--must come to see his error, must be converted.  All of us need to examine ourselves daily and place ourselves before God, asking what is his will, what is his plan for us.  The call to conversion is a constant in Christian life.

2.  Paul is told that in Damascus what Jesus has appointed for him to do will be revealed to him.  Christ has a plan or purpose for each of us, and we must always be seeking to know it, no matter where we are already on our life's journey.  His purpose isn't ordinarily revealed in a vision, of course.  We look for God's plan in our prayer, reading the Scriptures, spiritual direction, wise counsel of a non-spiritual sort, and examination of our own hearts and inclinations.  The world around us--our family, our parish, our jobs, our social lives, the political and social culture, world events--all this is how God reveals to us his purposes.

3.  What Paul was doing to Christians, he was doing to Christ himself.  That lesson is obvious and doesn't need a commentary here.