Conversion of St. Paul

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul (Acts 9: 1 – 19).  Whenever I read the story of Paul’s experience it causes me to stop and wonder about my own response to God’s invitation.  Paul had a profound experience of God calling him to change his ways and he responded with great courage and a firm sense of purpose.  It would be so much easier for us if God would send messages like he did the early disciples.  God continually calls us to be his hands and feet in our world today.  We have been charged to be Christ for one another – to reach out and help others in various ways.  If we listen, we will hear God’s call.

One of my favorite quotes by St. Teresa of Avila states very clearly God’s call to each one of us, “Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”  May this feast fill us with the grace to respond generously to the call of our loving God, that we may always bear witness with our lives to God’s abundant love for us.

Pat Schifini, OSU