PAUL REFLECTS ON HIS CONVERSION

X SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Galatians 1:11-19

At the beginning of his letter to the Galatians, Paul speaks of his personal experience and of his conversion. He was a “practicing Jew” (Gal 1:13); more than that, he was a pharisee, very strict in practicing the Law and an “enthusiastic” follower of “the traditions of the ancestors”, who would not accept any attempt to ignore or break the Law of Moses or to abolish those traditions. He saw the teaching and the practicing of the first Christian communities as a threat to the Law and to the Jewish way of life and therefore he decided to persecute violently the church of God, in an effort to destroy it (Gal 1:13-14).

However, his life turned upside down, when he had an extraordinary experience of the Risen Christ. Jesus entered his life and challenged him straight on. Calling him by name, Jesus asked: “Why do you persecute me?” (Act 9:4) Paul was forced to realise that he could not fight against God. And to the Galatians, he explained that 

“God, who had specially chosen me while I was still in my mother’s womb, called me through his grace and chose to reveal his Son in me, so that I might preach the Good News about him to the pagans” (Gal 1:15-16).

Moved by this extraordinary encounter with Jesus Christ, Paul did not hesitate to change direction. Without delay and without consulting others, he accepted Jesus Christ and allowed his life to be shaped by Jesus Christ. He wrote: “I did not stop to discuss this with any human being”. There was no need to consult relatives or friends; he knew beyond all doubts that Jesus is alive - he has risen from the dead and he is Lord. Accepting Jesus, he surrendered himself totally to him, and he became a witness that would only be silenced by his death for Jesus Christ, giving thus the great testimony that Jesus is Lord. The persecutor of the Church became the greatest preacher of the Gospel, announcing to all that Jesus is the Saviour. If we just accept him and surrender our lives to him, he will become our way and in him we will find life.

Paul became aware that the Good News of Jesus Christ is not a human message, given by men or learnt from them; in fact, he learned it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. We do not own the Gospel; instead, we are servants of the Gospel and, therefore, we must be faithful to it. We cannot change or adapt the Gospel to our conveniences.

As we see in the first reading (1 Kings 17:17-24) and then in the Gospel (Luke 7:11-17), God is the Lord and giver of life, and he is on the side of the weak, the poor and the suffering to bring relief and peace to their hearts. He is our refuge and our salvation. By bringing back to life the son of a widow, Jesus revealed his compassion and love and presented himself as being the Resurrection and Life. Indeed, “God has visited his people” (Lk 7:16).