+ Twice the story is told is some details about Paul’s (Saul) conversion.
It is told early in Acts, then again at the end in Paul’s trial.
It is, I am almost certain, the only feast day of someone’s conversion to Christ.
Quite frankly, Paul must have worn this as a “badge of courage” — a moment of pride so beautiful that God had intervened in his life and offered a mountain of grace that blinded him, made him depend upon the eyes and hands of another to guide him, and that led him to “the moment” of grace and conversion.
Paul did not resist; he opened his heart as he opened his hands, and God opened his eyes.
“I can see,” he must have said, referring to his eyes.
“I can see,” he must have said, referring to his heart.
That conversion was so total that the rest of his life was absolutely dedicated to helping others to see also.
+ Condemnation comes in many forms. One manner of condemnation is to forever lose out on the opportunity to experience a gift or a pleasure.
For example, Beethoven. One of the greatest composers ever, he lost his ability to hear and was condemned to a world of deprivation in which he could no longer hear his own beautiful music — the sounds of glory and sweetness, and sorrow, joy and delight.
What a condemnation! He was just deprived.
+ Sin deprives us of the joy of grace, goodness, peace, and love.
To not “know the Lord and Christ” is a deprivation, a condemnation, a lack. It does not imply evil or wickedness or fault; it is just a terrible lack, especially when one finds out what they were missing.
Paul was condemned in his ignorance of the Christ, but Paul was saved and converted, and he discovered the redeemer and Lord of life.
+ I, for my part, say we must celebrate — this is feast material.
Without even knowing it — before his conversion — we could say that “Paul was lost, but now he is found.”
Father Perry D. Leiker is the 14th pastor of St. Bernard Catholic Church. Reach him at (323) 255-6142. Email Father Perry at pleiker@stbernard-church.com. Follow Father Perry on Twitter: @MrDeano76.
