Conversion of St. Paul, the Apostle, Monday – 25th January 2021 — Gospel: Mark 16,15-18
God of the Second Chances
The feast of conversion of St.Paul focuses on God’s instant role at the turning point in one’s life. God looked around all the men living in the world and decided to give a second chance to the very man who was all out to destroy the followers of Christ. The same man who went about from house to house dragging Christians to jail, the same man who supervised the stoning of the first Christian martyr, Stephen, the same man whose zeal for the destruction of Christians would put him on a missionary journey with letter of permission, became the greatest missionary to promote the Christian faith. Initially, he thought he was right in persecuting the Christians. But he undergoes significant changes from narrow mindedness to universal apostleship. He was capable of organizing his life the way he wanted. But Jesus changed Saul’s life, in his plan to persecute the Christians in Damascus. Saul never thought that Jesus would take the initiative to meet and challenge him. Yet, in his encounter with Jesus on his way, he is blinded with the new knowledge about Jesus Christ and the Church. The powerful Saul became powerless Paul. In that powerlessness God worked his wonder. As result, he became a humble servant and honest apostle of Jesus Christ.
