Today's devotion: the conversion of Saint Paul the Apostle
25 JANUARY
CONVERSION OF SAINT PAUL THE APOSTLE
PRAYER FOR CONVERSION
Jesus, on the road to Damascus you appeared in St. Paul in a blazing light and you made your voice heard, bringing those who persecuted you to conversion.
Like Saint Paul, I entrust myself today to the power of Your forgiveness, letting myself be taken by the hand of You, so that I can come out of the quicksand of pride and sin, of lie and sadness, of selfishness and of every false security, to know and live the wealth of your love.
Mary Mother of the Church, may I obtain the gift of true conversion so that as soon as possible the yearning for Christ "Ut unum sint" may be fulfilled (so that they may be one)
St. Paul, intercede for us
The event is explicitly described in the Acts of the Apostles and implicitly mentioned in some letters from Paul. In Acts 9,1-9 there is the narrative description of what happened, which is recounted again by Paul himself, with quite remarkable variations [Note 3], both at the end of the attempt to lynch in Jerusalem (Acts 22,6-11 ), both during the appearance in Caesarea before the governor Porcio Phaistos and King Herod Agrippa II (Acts 26,12-18):
"Meanwhile Saul, always quivering threat and massacre against the Lord's disciples, presented himself to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues of Damascus in order to be authorized to lead men and women in chains to Jerusalem, followers of the doctrine of Christ, that he found. And it happened that, while he was traveling and was about to approach Damascus, suddenly a light enveloped him from heaven and falling on the ground he heard a voice saying to him: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?". He replied, "Who are you, O Lord?" And the voice: «I am Jesus, whom you persecute! Come on, get up and enter the city and you will be told what you have to do ». The men who walked with him had stopped speechless, hearing the voice but not seeing anyone. Saul got up from the ground but, opening his eyes, he saw nothing. So, guiding him by the hand, they took him to Damascus, where he stayed three days without seeing and without taking food or drink. »(Acts 9,1-9)
«While I was traveling and approaching Damascus, towards midday, suddenly a great light from the sky shone around me; I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? I answered: Who are you, O Lord? He said to me: I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you persecute. Those who were with me saw the light, but they did not hear the one who spoke to me. I said then: What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me: Get up and go on to Damascus; there you will be informed of all that is established that you do. And since I no longer saw each other, because of the brightness of that light, led by the hand of my companions, I arrived in Damascus. A certain Ananias, a devout obeyer of the law and in good standing among all the Jews there, came to me, approached me and said: Saul, brother, come back to see! And in that instant I looked up at him and got my sight back. He added: The God of our fathers has predestined you to know his will, to see the Just One and to listen to a word from his own mouth, because you will witness to him before all men the things you have seen and heard. And now why are you waiting? Get up, receive baptism and wash away from your sins, invoking his name. »(Acts 22,6-16)