25 January Saturday TODAYS READINGS: DIDACHE | COMPANION | SABBATH DIDACHE Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, Apostle A CHANGED MAN For you will be his witness before all to what you have seen and heard. – Acts 22:15 I have a friend who was a famous movie magazine reporter and TV host back in the 1980s. Back then, he was a mean movie reporter. Every time he gossiped about the lives of famous celebrities, he made sure that his readers and viewers believed every word that he wrote in the magazine or said in the talk shows. He built up people’s images but he also ruined some of them. That’s how he persecuted people during those days. But one day, God spoke to his heart and made him realize all the malicious things he had committed in the past. He made an amazing 180-degree turn. Today, he is a totally changed man. He gives spiritual talks in big prayer gatherings here and abroad. He spreads the Good News and the love of Jesus. He is now a preacher and a servant of God. He also hosts a weekly spiritual radio program at a Catholic radio network where he featured the story of how my wife and I were converted to the Lord. I was so amazed at how God had changed his life that I committed to help him in his crusade for the conversion of others by using my story. Monty Mendigoria (montymendigoria@yahoo) Reflection: Find hope in Christ Jesus, and the moment you hear His voice, harden not your heart. Lord, let me be an instrument of Your love and mercy. May Your name be glorified in everything I do. St. Peter Thomas, pray for us. Didache | Companion | Sabbath | Top COMPANION 1ST READING Paul is a very honest chap. One of the best qualities of a good leader is that he or she is willing to admit his or her mistakes. There is no doubt that Paul does this, in such a way as to encourage those who have made a similar mistake to follow him in correcting it. Any form of conversion involves renouncing a past way of life in order to embrace the new. Let us always go deeper in our relationship with God. Acts 22:3-16 (or Acts 9:1-22) 3 Paul addressed the people in these words: “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city. At the feet of Gamaliel I was educated strictly in our ancestral law and was zealous for God, just as all of you are today. 4 I persecuted this way to death, binding both men and women and delivering them to prison. 5 Even the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify on my behalf. For from them I even received letters to the brothers and set out for Damascus to bring back to Jerusalem in chains for punishment those there as well. 6 “On that journey as I drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from the sky suddenly shone around me. 7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ 8 I replied, ‘Who are you, sir?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazorean whom you are persecuting.’ 9 My companions saw the light but did not hear the voice of the one who spoke to me. 10 I asked, ‘What shall I do, sir?’ The Lord answered me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told about everything appointed for you to do.’ 11 Since I could see nothing because of the brightness of that light, I was led by hand by my companions and entered Damascus. 12 A certain Ananias, a devout observer of the law, and highly spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, 13 came to me and stood there and said, ‘Saul, my brother, regain your sight.’ And at that very moment I regained my sight and saw him. 14 Then he said, ‘The God of our ancestors designated you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the sound of his voice; 15 for you will be his witness before all to what you have seen and heard. 16 Now, why delay? Get up and have yourself baptized and your sins washed away, calling upon his name.’” P S A L M Psalm 117:1, 2 R: Go out to all the world and tell the Good News. 1 Praise the Lord, all you nations; glorify him, all you peoples! (R) 2 For steadfast is his kindness toward us, and the fidelity of the Lord endures forever. (R) GOSPEL There is little doubt that Paul had heard from oral sources this or a similar story commanding us to go forth and baptize. It is important that we hear this command and act on it. At the heart of knowing the Good News must be the willingness to go out and share it with others, primarily by the way we live — and only in word if necessary. Paul is an inspiration in this regard. Let us imitate his zeal for the Kingdom of God. GOSPEL ACCLAMATION I chose you from the world, to go and bear fruit that will last, says the Lord. Mark 16:15-18 15 Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. 18 They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” think: Any form of conversion involves renouncing a past way of life in order to embrace the new. T O D A Y’S BLESSING LIST Thank You Lord for: __________________ ____________________________________ God’s special verse/thought for me today _____________________________________ SABBATH ONGOING CONVERSION When we hear the word “conversion,” we usually think of a great sinner who abandons a sinful life and becomes a good person. Paul was actually not a bad person. When he persecuted the Church, he did it out of zeal for God and his religion. He just did not understand yet who Christ was, and that Christ had not come to destroy the traditional faith but that He brought more profound insights into who God is. What we commemorate today, therefore, is more the enlightenment of Paul, a call to a new understanding of God. We are all called to an ongoing conversion. This also does not mean that we have to be first bad persons who need to turn away from evil and become good Christians. Even the saints, who certainly were already good Christians, were aware of a necessary ongoing conversion. The Greek word for conversion is metanoia, which indicates a “turning.” Two kinds of turning are required: a turning away from the present way of life, and a turning to a new way of life, to a new understanding of who God is and what Christ wants us to do. Turning away from the present way of life entails a challenge. “Turning away from” and “turning to” is an adventure, as it was in the life of St. Paul. Never in his wildest dreams would he have thought that one day he would travel more than 4,000 kilometers by land and sea to preach. But this adventure kept him alive, strong and excited until the end of his life. Not only in daily life, but also in our religious life, can we easily fall into a dull routine. Just think of your prayers. Has your way of prayer changed since your childhood? Have you adapted to the liturgy where you are invited to participate, to sing, and pray together? When you hear the Gospel, do you listen or turn to other thoughts because you “know it already”? Oh yes, we can be “good Christians” but still need conversion: a turning away from routine and a turning to a new, exciting future guided by God’s Spirit, who is always full of surprises. Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD REFLECTION QUESTION: Read the reflection once more and answer the questions you find there. Lord, let Your Holy Spirit excite me so that I may leave my old ways behind, get out of my routine, and have the courage to be open to wherever Your Spirit wants to guide me.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 09:58:51 +0000
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