Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Mark (16: 15-18) in which Jesus says, ‘Go to the whole world, proclaim the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, whoever does not believe will be condemned’. Afterwards, Fr Paul shares a little about the conversion of St Paul, which we celebrate today.

Fr Paul says prior to being called Paul; St Paul’s original name was Saul.

Saul was the young man who looked after the cloaks of the men who were stoning St Stephen, and he grew into a dedicated and efficient persecutor of Christians.

Today’s feast simply celebrates the day that Christ appeared to him in a vision as he was on the way to Damascus, and expressed to Saul, who was to become Paul, his disapproval and disappointment in him for his persecution of Christians and converted him to the true faith.

On this special day, Fr Paul invites us to ask, ‘St Paul…Pray for us!’