Why Are You Persecuting Me?

January 25, 2009

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul

By Rev. Joe McCloskey, S.J.

“On that journey as I drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from the sky suddenly shone around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’” Acts 22:6-7

I tell you, brothers, the time is running out. From now on, let those having wives act as not having them, those weeping as not weeping, those rejoicing as not rejoicing, those buying as not owning, those using the world as not using it fully. For the world in its present form is passing away. 1 Corinthians 7:29-31

“Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Mark 16:15-16

Piety

Praise the LORD, all you nations! Give glory, all you peoples! The LORD'S love for us is strong; the LORD is faithful forever. Hallelujah! Psalm 117

Study

The Conversion of St. Paul has always been one of my favorite stories of the New Testament. I like it because it fits in its own way all of us. Bright lights have been the friendly words of others that have made the road to a greater union with Christ easier to follow. The joy of being a part of anyone’s journey to Christ has also been a sign of the truth of our journey. We are energized by each other’s story. That is why the group reunion always starts with a sharing of piety. Searching for the voice that is speaking to our heart and in our heart is what piety allows us to do. We find the voice of Christ in the invitations of piety to share a closer walk with Christ. We are encouraged in our own journey by the way people listen to us. When we pay close attention to what another is saying, our own journey clarifies itself. It becomes easier in the companionship of the journey. Christ lives again fleshed out in the story of each one of us.

Ananias becomes in the story a Spiritual Director. He does for Paul what a Spiritual director does when one accompanies us on the journey and shares where the pitfalls are and dead-end streets of the byways of the journey. God puts the companions of the journey on our road. The value of the expert we discover for ourselves and the straight and the narrow path is revealed to us. It is easy to get lost on the journey or to waste a lot of time without a guide. God can use any one of us. The Group Reunion makes us instruments of Christ to carry his name to our friends. The story of Jonah enlarges our apostolate. The Lord does not give us a threat to carry to our people. Jonah did not really believe that his word would make a difference. Our apostolic action begins on our own hearts. We have to believe we can make a difference if we depend on Christ. We have to change. If we are to carry the voice of what is wrong with our world, we have to do something about ourselves. Our lives need to be the sermon that we are preaching if we are to make a difference in our world.

Action

The words of Jesus in our Gospel today are directed at our hearts. “Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Jesus invites the two sets of brothers to come and follow him. We need to begin our call in our own families. The job that he has for us is to make friends and be friends and by the beauty of our friendships to bring them to Christ. What we do in our Group reunion is half dead if we are not trying to bring others to the same love for Christ that we have. Christianity is the best kept secret of our world. If we are to make a difference in our world, we too must share the good news of Christ. The status quo is not acceptable if we want to follow Christ.