HOMILY FOR THE FEAST OF THE CONVERSION OF SAINT PAUL, APOSTLE.
THEME: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
BY: Fr. Diotacious Chikontwe SMA.
HOMILY FOR JANUARY 25TH.
*READINGS OF THE DAY*
Acts 22:3-16
Psalm 116
Mark 16:15-18
*LITURGICAL COLOUR*
WHITE
*INTRODUCTION*
Today we are celebrating the Conversion of St. Paul. St. Paul was born as Saul at Tarsus, the capital of Cilicia (modern Turkey). He encountered Christ on the road to Damascus which changed him forever.
Today we medidate in a special way, the fact that 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 Christianity. 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, and became the greatest missionary to promote the Christian Faith.
RELATED: HOMILY FOR THE FEAST OF THE CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL
*WHAT DO WE LEARN FROM THE FEAST OF TODAY?*
One thing we learn from the beauty of St. Paul’s conversion is that, the moment he rose from his feet, he never went back to his former ways. From that day, he saw himself as a completely different person.
Here, we learn again true repentance from St Paul story. Repentance means changing your heart, changing the things that give you joy, changing the things you love and desire even in secret. Repentance is changing your belief in yourself, it is telling yourself that you can do without sin, that you will not die if you let go of those past behaviours.
*CONCLUSION*
When Saul fell to the ground, he heard the voice of Christ saying: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” Let us always remember that when we face persecution for the sake of our faith, Jesus Christ himself shares in our pain. Conscious of his presence in us, we would not only stay away from sin, we would make use of His Power working through us. As Jesus told us in today’s Gospel passage, That the following signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.
May God give us the grace of total repentance, and may He help each one of us, never to return to our former bad ways in Jesus Name. Amen.
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