25 January: The Conversion of Paul the Apostle
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From darkness to light
The Church celebrates Saint Paul’s Conversion on the road to Damascus, on 25 January. In one of the most powerful manifestations of divine grace, Saul, the fierce persecutor of Christians, became the Apostle of Nations. The event is narrated in the Acts of the Apostles.
The Feast of the Conversion of Paul was celebrated as of the sixth century, and is unique to the Latin Church. The Apostle par excellence wrote the following about himself: “I worked harder than any of them” (the other Apostles). But he also wrote, “I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle”.
In his first letter to the Corintihians, (9:1-2;15:8-14). Paul reclaimed the quality of Apostle, because he had seen the Lord and because of the Corinthians who had converted through his apostolate.
He saw the event that had taken place in Damascus as an encounter with the Risen Christ. He had received the Holy Spirit like the Apostles at Pentecost.
Paul mentions several times that the quality of Apostle was given to him without the intervention of any intermediaries. After Damascus, he immediately went on mission without returning to Jerusalem, nor seeing any of the other Apostles (cf. Gal 1:15-19). He was free, only docile to grace. This grace, he often said, was along with faith, the foundation of the justification. The journey to Damascus was the founding moment of Paul’s apostolate, and marked a complete upheaval.
He described himself as the least of the Apostles because he had persecuted God’s Church, but still an Apostle, because he was a witness of the Resurrection, by the Grace of God.
After falling to the ground, he stood up as the Lord commanded. Starting from the 12th century, artists began depicting Paul falling from a horse, which is not mentioned in the New Testament. Without a doubt, they wanted to convey the power and suddenness of the divine action. Paul was thrown to the ground as he was on his way to persecute, and could no longer continue on his path. He was raised by Christ, “the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), who showed him a new “way”: evangelizing peoples.
Paul lost his sight for three days. With Christ’s action, through a vision to Ananias, he was able to recover his sight, but his vision was renewed. Scales fell from his eyes and he could see where the Lord was leading him. The three days of darkness recall Christ in darkness, that ends with baptism, which Paul said, makes us participants in Christ’s death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead, we too live a new life (cf. Rom 6:4)
“God did this so that Paul might learn who it was he was fighting against - a God whom he could not withstand, not only in punishments, but even in kindnesses. For darkness did not blind Paul, but the superabundance of light cast him into darkness” (Saint John Chrysostom on the Conversion of Paul).
The 25th of January also marks the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, whose theme this year, was inspired by a passage from the Gospel of John: “Do you believe this?” (11:26).