THURSDAY JANUARY 25, 2024
THURSDAY OF THE THIRD WEEK OF THE ORDINARY TIME YR B
CONVERSION OF ST PAUL
Acts 22:3-16
Mark 16:15-18
JESUS INVITES US TO HIS MISSION
No one is excluded from the mission of Christ. Who would have thought that Saint Paul, the worse enemy of the Christian faith would one day become the greatest evangelizer of the faith. It is a mystery beyond us.
The feast of the conversion of Saint Paul is celebrated annually on this day to mark the great power of God in turning people around and making them instruments for his glory and honour. It also points to the necessity for us to undertake the mission of spreading the goodnews to the ends of the earth, since our primary mission on earth is to spread the Good new of Christ. This is our mandate, this is a task God assigned us all.
The conversion of Saint Paul is a great indication that God takes the initiative in our lives. Again, we may be wallowing in ignorance and thinking that we are in the right, striving with all our strength, working seriously. But are we working on the side of God? Are we doing what we are assigned to do? Saint Paul was a zealous man, devoted to the cause of his Jewish belief. For him, before his conversion, he was doing the work of God. He was intent on protecting the traditions of his forefathers. He fought with his life. And when confronting this new religious movement of Jesus, he did not spare anyone. He was instrumental to the killing of Stephen. And he had planned to visit Damascus in search of those radical Christians to exterminate them all. But that was the end of the road for him. His personal ambition cannot override God’s plans.
On the road to Damascus, Jesus arrested him. And turned him around, making him the instrument to proclaim his goodnews to the gentile world. We must evaluate ourselves on this point, are we working alone or are we working with Christ? In our mission of earth as God’s people, in any sphere of life, who or what is actually motivating our actions.
In our gospel of today, the mandate is extended to all believers. “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptised will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” All of us are called to spread the goodnews of salvation. We are commissioned on the day of our baptism to carry the goodnews to all in the world.
How well are we carrying out this mandate of proclaiming the good news. What is determining our motives and inspiration. Are we inspired by our ego, or lure by material possession, or quest for prestige and power or recognition. Are we motivated to proclaim the goodnews from the standpoint of making Christ known, loved and accepted in the world? This should be our earnest motivation. To give to the world, freely as we have received freely, to draw people not to ourselves but to God, to Jesus and to the ways of salvation, to create the consciousness of people to the fact that life without God in Christ is meaningless, to build up the kingdom of God and make everyone citizens of heaven and candidates of eternal life.
This task of purifying the intentions of our evangelical endeavour must be done in each one of us so that we may be working not for selfish reasons but for God and with God alone.
Heavenly Father in the conversion of Saint Paul, your turned the enemy of your people to become an ardent preacher of the faith. And you gave us the same mandate to go and proclaim you to the ends of the earth. We pray, grant us the same devotion, zeal, fortitude, and faith of Saint Paul to work assiduously for your kingdom and for our salvation through Christ our Lord
Fr Norbert Uchuno
