Touched and Transformed

January 25, 2012

Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, the Apostle

By Colleen O'Sullivan

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?” He said, “Who are you, sir?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do.” The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, for they heard the voice but could see no one. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus. For three days he was unable to see, and he neither ate nor drank... He stayed some days with the disciples in Damascus, and he began at once to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. (Acts 9:3-9, 19b-20)

Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15)

Piety

Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?
Will you go where you don’t know and never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown, Will you let my name be known,
Will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?

(from The Summons, John L. Bell & Graham Maule)

Study

In my former life as a United Methodist pastor, I served a small country church for several years where the congregation had no idea that there was such a thing as a liturgical year. They had never had special worship services for Christmas, Ash Wednesday, Holy Thursday or Good Friday. The high point of their year was “Revival Week,” which took on the aura of Holy Week. Guest musicians and rousing guest preachers were the order of the day (good thing, because I felt like a fish out of water). Members of the congregation loved to reminisce about the great revival of some year when, according to them, 90 people went down to the altar and were saved. After I had heard this story a number of times, I began to ask questions. Where are those 90 people now? What happened in their lives after declaring their faith in the Lord? Were they changed and, if so, how? My church members thought about it for a while. For many of those 90 people, nothing much changed, they reported. They seemed puzzled as to why I was asking. The drama of experiencing God’s saving touch and responding by going down to the altar and declaring their faith was what impressed them. It was exciting.

Maybe we’re equally bedazzled by the drama of Saul’s conversion experience – a blinding light on the road to Damascus, Jesus’ voice from heaven, Saul’s inability to see or eat or drink for three days!

But the focus of the story is more on what happened afterward, how Saul responded to God’s intervention. He was transformed! When Ananias laid hands on him, he was filled with the Holy Spirit. He could see again. He responded by being baptized. Saul, the zealous persecutor of Christians, turned his life around and became Paul, the great evangelizer for Christ.

When the Lord touches our lives or takes hold of us, we are supposed to be transformed. Our lives are supposed to change. Look at what happens in today’s Gospel reading. Jesus has taken a rag-tag bunch of followers - people who couldn’t stay awake with him while he prayed, people who would deny knowing him and flee when the going got rough - and transformed their lives. They become the leaders of the early Church. The resurrected Lord sends them out to preach the Good News. They become evangelizers alongside the apostle Paul.

Action

Conversion experiences come in all shapes and forms. In my own life there haven’t been any dramatic, Damascus road events. But more than once God has touched me in such a way that I have been transformed, usually at points in my life when I have been vulnerable, willing to admit that being lord of my own life isn’t working out or willing to admit that I can’t go it alone.

Saul was certainly riding high when he encountered Jesus on the road. He was making a name for himself. He was bound and determined to eradicate all followers of Jesus’ way. Everything was going great for him. Maybe that’s why he was struck down, made vulnerable by blindness. Maybe we are most open to conversion and transformation when we are weak.

When you are praying today, reflect on your own conversion experience(s). When and how has the Lord transformed you?