A conversion story

 Today we celebrate the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul as our own Fr Paul reads the Gospel from Mark (16: 15-18), in which Jesus commission the apostles to go out to the whole world and proclaim the good news to all creation.

To celebrate today’s Feast of the Conversion of St Paul, Fr Paul shares a bit about that event with us.

When he was younger St Paul was known as Saul. He was the man who looked after the cloaks of the men were stoning the first martyr of our church, St Stephen. Saul then grew to be a dedicated and very efficient persecutor of Christians.

Today we recall that Christ appeared to Saul in a vision as he was on his way to Damascus.  Saul was reproached for what he was doing and for what he had done. He then converted to the faith.

As he did convert, like Peter, there is a name change. He goes from being Saul, the persecutor of Christians, to Paul, one of the greatest evangelists in our church.

For our reflection today, Fr Paul invites us, mindful that Paul’s early life revolved around persecution, to ask ourselves, ‘How have I responded when I have been persecuted?’ How have I responded when I saw others persecuted?’ Am I sorry for the times when I have persecuted others?