St. Paul is one of the most significant and influential figures in the Church, so much so that his conversion to Christ has its own liturgical memorial on January 25 every year.
Most of us are familiar with the basic story of how Saul became Paul, going from persecuting Christians to becoming an ardent Apostle to the Gentiles whose letters to the communities he founded form a significant part of the New Testament.
While on the road to Damascus to throw more Christians into prison, Saul himself is thrown to the ground, overwhelmed by a Heavenly light and a celestial voice that demands, “Saul, Saul why do you persecute me?”
“Who are you, Sir?” Saul asks.
“I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.”
In a state of physical blindness and spiritual wonderment, Saul is taken to the house of Ananias, a local Christian leader, where he neither eats nor drinks for three days, and then is Baptized as Paul, whereupon he gains his sight and sets off to proclaim the Gospel.
Acts of the Apostles Chapter 9 narrates this remarkable event, and Paul refers to it in Acts Chapters 22 and 26.
Clearly, Paul experienced the power and love of the Lord so profoundly, that it forever changed his life and set him on a completely different course.
He will both live and die solely for Jesus Christ.
An amazing change
In the Second Reading this Sunday, Paul writes powerfully about the amazing change wrought in him through his encounter with Christ.
Paul was a zealous Jew, indeed a Pharisee, passionate and committed to his faith, finding his righteousness before God through a meticulous observance of the Law.
“But whatever gains I had, these I have come to consider a loss because of Christ. More than that, I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake, I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having any righteousness of my own based on the law but that which comes through faith in Christ . . . to know Him and the power of His Resurrection and the sharing of His sufferings by being conformed to His death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection of the dead.”
(Philippians 3: 7-11)
Paul gave up everything — his practice of Judaism, his home, and country, his reputation and possessions, and his comfort and safety — in order to follow the Lord.
The remarkable aspect of this transformation is that he did not even consider it a sacrifice because he had gained Christ and the salvation flowing from His dying and rising.
Paul lost everything he had in this world, but found the Lord, and so he always thought he had gotten the better part of the bargain by far.
Learning from Lent
We have been making our penitential way through another Lent and soon we will be in Holy Week once again.
We have given up comforts, prayed more, offered alms to the poor, and sought to share the Gospel with those around us.
All of this spiritual effort takes on its significance and purpose only as it refers to Jesus.
When we fall more deeply in love with the Lord, the sacrifices which a lively and zealous faith demands seem to cost us less because we realize that we are loved by God and have received the promise of forgiveness and eternal life.
Everything we do for the Lord and the Church is radically worth it in the end, if we gain the Kingdom of Heaven.
Love never counts the cost; it simply gives its all.
Maybe we are well on our way to conversion when giving money to the poor excites us more than a shopping spree on the weekend or when receiving the Lord in the Eucharist fills us with more joy than buying a new car or going to Confession feels like winning the lottery or when spending time with loved ones is better than going on a fabulous vacation without them.
We will always value what we truly treasure. We will generously pour time, money, and energy into the objects of our love.
As Jesus says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be.” (Matthew 6:21)
In my column for the First Sunday of Lent, I asked the question, “Where is your heart? Where is my heart?” We come back to where we started in these 40 days.
We have come through this Lenten desert of prayer, sacrifice, discipline, and service to realign our hearts, to focus them on the Lord, to enthrone Him in our hearts, and to make Him and His Gospel the absolute, non-negotiable value of our lives.
In this Jubilee Year, we ask the Lord to stir up our hearts, to envelop us in His light, to speak His word of love and mission, as He did so powerfully in the life of St. Paul, that we too will consider all things as a loss in comparison to knowing Jesus Christ and the power which flows from His death and Resurrection.