Today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles is the story of St. Paul’s call or conversion. We have three accounts of Paul’s conversion in Acts (9:1-18; 22:3-16; 26:2-18) as well as Paul’s own description of his experience on the road to Damascus:
“For you heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church…and tried to destroy it, and progressed in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries…, since I was even more a zealot for my ancestral traditions. But when God, who from my mother’s womb had set me apart and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles…” (Galatians 1:13-16).
Paul describes his Damascus experience as a vocation or a call: “God…called me…so that I might proclaim him [Jesus] to the Gentiles.” God revealed his Son to Paul in order that he might become an apostle and proclaim the Gospel to the Gentiles.
While Luke’s accounts in Acts basically agrees with Paul’s own account, Luke pictures Paul’s experience more as a conversion than a call. As Paul himself states, he was a persecutor of the church. Luke tells us that on the road to Damascus Paul “still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord” had his conversion experience:
“On his journey, as he was nearing Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me…I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do.”
God appears to Ananias in Damascus and tells him to go and lay hands on Paul. God tells Ananias: “Go, for this man is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and children of Israel…”. Paul is chosen to bring the Gospel to both Gentiles and Jews.
Each one of us, like Paul, are chosen and have a vocation or call through our baptism. We are called to preach the Gospel, to be the Body of Christ to all that we meet. We are called to be witnesses and evangelist not only in word but also and primarily by our deeds.
Image: “Painting of St. Paul, St. Paul’s Church, Rabat, Malta, 2011” by travfotos is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.