January 25, The Conversion of St. Paul

Go out to all the world and tell the Good News. — Mark 16:15

Mass Readings: Acts 22:3-16 or 9:1-22 / Mark 16:15-18

A Vision of Love 

In today’s reading we hear about the conversion of St. Paul on the road to Damascus, surely one of the most dramatic and fateful conversions of all time. A ferocious persecutor of Christians is suddenly transformed into the greatest of evangelists, the man who brought the Gospel to the Gentiles. 

What happened to Paul to cause such a change? I think that the shattering vision of Christ that Paul had was an encounter with pure Love. In a flash, he understood that God is love. This was Christ’s good news, the best news ever, and he was filled with a passion to share this news with everyone he could reach. He followed this mission urgently, and he used all his considerable talents to fulfill it. May each of us experience more of this love. 

Prayer: Come into my heart, Lord, as you came to the Apostle Paul.