The Conversion of St. Paul

Today is the Feast day in memory of the Conversion of St. Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles. I took his name as my baptismal name when I became Catholic in 1982. Hence, my name was Jon/Paul, too. I thought it was cute back then, since I thought the new pope was good. However, now I look back at all of the bad examples he gave, leading many to believe things which are NOT good for their souls. Anyway, I associated with Paul, in that I did stuff which was not all that good, and, in a way, was persecuting the Church in my own way. This is why I took his name when converting.
And, I was privileged to touch a piece of his tomb a few years ago in St. Louis. Relics from the Vatican were on tour in the U.S.. Touching this rock meant a great lot to me. Probably wasn't supposed to, but it WAS within reach.

'It is on this glorious day of the Conversion of Saul, who is soon to change his name into Paul, that this great work is commenced. It is on this day that there is heard the Almighty voice which breaketh the cedars of Libanus (Ps. xxviii: 5), and can make a persecuting Jew become first a Christian and then an Apostle. This admirable transformation had been prophesied by Jacob, when upon his deathbed he unfolded to each of his sons the future of the tribe of which he was to be the father. Juda was to have the precedence of honor; from his royal race was to be born the Redeemer, the Expected of nations. Benjamin’s turn came; his glory is not be compared with that of his brother, Juda, and yet it was to be very great—for from his tribe is to be born Paul, the Apostle of the Gentile nations.

These are the words of the dying Prophet (Jacob): 'Benjamin, a ravenous wolf, in the morning shall eat the prey, and in the evening shall divide the spoil' (Gen. xlix: 27). Who, says an ancient writer, is he that in the morning of impetuous youth goes like a wolf in pursuit of the sheep of Christ, breathing threats and slaughter against them? Is it not Saul on the road to Damascus, the bearer and doer of the high-priest’s orders, and stained with the blood of St. Stephen, whom he has stoned by the hands of all those over whose garments he kept watch? And he who in the evening, not only does not despoil, but with a charitable and peaceful hand breaks to the hungry the bread of life—is it not Paul, of the tribe of Benjamin, the Apostle of Christ, burning with zeal for his brethren, making himself all to all, and wishing even to be an anathema for their sakes?

Oh the power of our dear Jesus! How wonderful! How irresistible! He wishes that the first worshipers at His Crib should be humble Shepherds—and He invites them by His Angels, whose sweet hymn was enough to lead these simple-hearted men to the Stable, where, in swaddling-clothes, He lies Who is the Hope of Israel. He would have the Gentile Princes, the Magi, do Him homage—and bids a star to arise in the heavens, whose mysterious apparition, joined to the interior speaking of the Holy Ghost, induces these men of desire to come from the East, and lay at the feet of a humble Babe their riches and their hearts. When the time is come for forming the Apostolic College, He approaches the banks of the Sea of Tiberias, and with this single word: Follow Me, He draws after Him such as He wishes to have as His Disciples. In the midst of all the humiliations of His Passion, He has but to look at the unfaithful Peter, and Peter is a penitent. Today, it is from Heaven that He evinces His power: all the mysteries of our Redemption have been accomplished, and He wishes to show mankind that He is the sole Author and Master of the Apostolate, and that His alliance with the Gentiles is now perfect. He speaks; the sound of His reproach bursts like thunder over the head of this hot Pharisee, who is bent on annihilating the Church; He takes this heart of the Jew, and by His grace, turns it into the heart of the Apostle, the Vessel of election, the Paul who is afterwards to say of himself: 'I live now, not I, but Christ liveth in me' (Gal. ii: 20).

The commemoration of this great event was to be a Feast in the Church, and it had a right to be kept as near as might be to the one which celebrates the martyrdom of St. Stephen; for St. Paul is the Protomartyr’s convert. The anniversary of his martyrdom would, of course, have to be solemnized at the summer solstice; where, then, place the Feast of his Conversion if not near Christmas, and thus our own Apostle would be at Jesus’ Crib, and Stephen’s side? Moreover, the Magi could claim him, as being the conqueror of that Gentile world, of which they were the first fruits.

And lastly, it was necessary, in order to give the court of our Infant King its full beauty, that the two Princes of the Church — the Apostle of the Jews, and the Apostle of the Gentiles—should stand close to the mystic Crib; St. Peter with his Keys, and St. Paul with his Sword. Bethlehem thus becomes the perfect figure of the Church, and the riches of this season of the Cycle are abundant beyond measure.'


Anyway, whether he was knocked off a horse is still debated (it means little), he was a Roman citizen with authority, so it makes sense to me that he was on a horse, or at least being driven. I'm going to end with a prayer from the Gallican Missal concerning this day.

'O god, who by a voice from heaven didst strike with terror thine Apostle Paul when raging against the holiness of the Christian religion, and on this the day of his Vocation didst change him both in his heart and his name: so that the Church having once dreaded him as her persecutor, now rejoices in having him as her Teacher in the commandments of God: whom thou didst strike with exterior blindness, that thou mightest give him interior sight: to whom, moreover, when the darkness of his cruelty was removed, thou didst give the knowledge of thy divine law, whereby he might call the Gentiles: and didst thrice deliver him from shipwreck, which he suffered for the Faith, saving this thy devoted servant from the waves of the sea: grant also to us, we beseech thee, who are solemnizing both his conversion and his sins, we may be permitted to see thee in heaven, who didst enlighten Paul here on earth.'

St. Paul, help us convert our hearts