Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul

Acts 9: 1-22

 
Saul of Tarsus was one of the most unlikely candidates for conversion.  Not only had he a short time earlier stood by approvingly while Stephen, one of the first Deacons of the Church, was stoned to death, but Saul had also spent the last few months hunting down followers of Jesus, and imprisoning them, or putting them to death. We can only imagine the horror and the pain in the community of early Christians incited by ‘Saul of Tarsus’. But God’s healing power knows no bounds. Anyone, even a zealot like Saul can be turned back - ‘converted’ - to the truth and love of Father God. Anyone can ‘regain their sight’ and be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. So it was that Jesus disrupted Saul’s life of carnage and literally knocked him off his high horse. The result of conversion for Saul, was that he became Saint Paul, the energetic and prolific witness to the saving power of Christ Jesus for the rest of his life. While dodging death countless times, he travelled extensively in the Middle East spreading the Good News of God’s mercy, until he was finally captured and successfully imprisoned.  During his eight years in prison in Rome before being beheaded, he wrote nine significant Biblical letters to the churches  that for two thousand years have inspired millions. No matter how long we avert our eyes from God in ways great or small, we like Paul can be converted and return to our purpose in life, to live more fully into the presence and the will of God. Who knows what abundance of fruit my life could produce if I were to become fully engaged, like Saint Paul in living into the Good News of the mercy of God. Lord let me - let us - regain our sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
 
Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation! (St, Mark 16:15)
 
Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.
St. Catherine of Siena.
 
 
Father,
May everything we do
Begin with your inspiration,
And continue with your saving help.
Let our work always find it origin in you
And through you reach completion.
Concluding prayer. Week 1, Morning Prayer, Liturgy of the Hours.
 
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Hebrews 10:1-10 & Mark 3:31-35

 
It is the age-old question:  Why am I here on earth? For those who are turned away from God, the answer to this query is a constant conundrum, ‘Am I here simply to do what I want, or to fulfill the beliefs and customs of the culture of the day, doing what ‘they’ say? ‘ But for baptized followers of Jesus, the answer to this question is clear. I am here to do God’s will through the life and breath of the Holy Spirit of God within me. As much as I align myself with societal norms, or choose to do just what I want and feels good for my own entertainment and comfort, I do not, and can not, understand God’s will for the knowledge, skills and talents he has gifted into my life. But as much as I, as the beloved child of the Father, ‘let go and let God’, I become a co-creator of love and mercy – a pencil in the hand of the divine artist, an instrument of the extraordinary peace and healing of Christ Jesus. As I live into this age old question of existence, will I settle into the swamps of selfish ease, wander through shifting sands of culture and customs or the misty flats of human ideas and ideologies, or will I walk the highways and byways of the journey of life with Jesus, entirely available to God to be his creating hands and feet, eyes, ears, mouth – yes, and his heart –here on earth? Here I am, Lord, I am here to do your will.  
 
Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.  Then I said, “Here I am. Your instructions for me are in the book of life.” (Psalm 40: 7)
 
 
Father,
May everything we do
Begin with your inspiration,
And continue with your saving help.
Let our work always find it origin in you
And through you reach completion.
Concluding prayer. Week 1, Morning Prayer, Liturgy of the Hours.
 
 
Listen to Here I Am, sung by John Michael Talbot, with thoughtful visuals. .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcxOkht8w7c
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Mark3:1-6

 
As I follow Jesus, I find my heart softening to everyone, including the poor, the sick, the lame (in body, mind or soul), the imprisoned, the dying. But what to do for them, with them?  The world says, “They made their choices and are living the consequences – leave them be.” The flesh says, “Watch it! You have just enough energy, resources and time for you and your own family – don’t over extend yourself!” The devil says, “They’re on their own! To hell with them!”. And the religious leaders of the day took the scientific approach, “Let’s see if He heals against the laws of our religion!” Jesus said to the man with the withered hand – in the synagogue on a Sabbath! –“Come to me….stretch out your hand to me,” and the man’s hand was restored. Will I use the excuses of the world to fend off fellow human beings in need? Or will I, like Jesus, notice them, welcome them, and encourage them to stretch out their lives to me as a representative of Jesus’ Mercy, so that they can be restored by the power of the Living, Loving God? Holy Spirit of Jesus, protect my softness of heart to love like you.
 
Be my protector, O God… for you are my rock, my stronghold!  Lead me, guide me, for the sake of your name.  (Psalm 30)
 
 
All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.
St. Francis of Assisi
 
Check out this new year’s blessing, A Mixed Blessing.
A Mixed Blessing - for the Feast of St. Benedict - PrayTellBlog
 
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
1 Corinthians 1:1-3

 
Could it be that becoming holy – that is, whole, pure and fully alive in life and love, like Christ – is the main purpose of life on earth? Could it be that all experiences, all the good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful things we experience can sanctify our beings? Certainly the joys and sufferings of life both bring about challenges that can either drive us away into a deadly ‘hell on earth’ and overwhelming darkness, or they can form us into the holy and lively beings we are designed to be.  The joys of life can lead us into the clutches of passionate desire and lust for all things temporal, or they can teach us to recognize and find true light and love and life by understanding them from God’s perspective.  Similarly the sufferings of life can draw us into overwhelming and mortal despair, despondence and discouragement, or they can challenge us to become more God-like in faithful patience, more fervent in hopeful indifference to temporal circumstances and possessions, and more compassionate in loving relationships.  As I live into the joys and sufferings that unfold in my life, will I allow myself to be carried away into the darkness of the Enemy, that is hell, or will I choose to let the life and ministry of Jesus, the Word, show me how to let the joys and sufferings of this life make me holy? Holy Spirit of Jesus, sanctify my being through the joys and sufferings of my life.  
 
“… Show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope to the very end, so that you may not become sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises of God.” (Hebrews 6: 11-12)
 
 
To have courage for whatever comes in life – everything lies in that.
St. Theresa of Avila
 
Check out this new year’s blessing, A Mixed Blessing.
A Mixed Blessing - for the Feast of St. Benedict - PrayTellBlog
 
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Hebrews 4:1-16 & Mark 2:1-12

 
The Good News proclaimed by Christ Jesus, in all of its simplicity and its mysterious complexity, is able  to lead us into the ‘rest’ that is the extraordinary ‘peace’ of God.  And it is this simplicity and mysterious complexity of the word that makes it so easily swept away by the crowded plans and plots of day to day life. This was notably the situation when four friends let their paralyzed friend down into the presence of Jesus in Capernaum at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus did not launch into a long explanation of paralysis, nor even chide the man for his own or his parents’ deficits, but simply proclaimed two short phrases of life-giving Truth. “Your sins are forgiven you” and “Arise take up your bed and walk” threw the legalist religious people in the crowd into a frenzy and an argument with Jesus. But these same two simple “words” to the paralytic released his soul from temporal and eternal damnation and healed his infirmity – of body, mind and soul!  In my life, do I, like the legalists compare and complain –and  so miss the impact of the Good News of Jesus’ Light and Love? Or do I receive the extraordinarily simple words of eternal truth, life and love, from the Holy Spirit of God through scripture and prayer with an open and an accepting heart, letting them release and heal me as well?  Holy Spirit of Jesus, help me receive your word by faith and so enter into your rest.     
 
Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest… (Hebrews 4: 11)
 
The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. The writer of Hebrews 4:12
 
Broken bread, sustaining us in sorrow,
Wine poured out to toast our joy;
Exodus and new to morrow,
Life’s full promise to enjoy!
Gladdening every human story,
Word made flesh reveals his glory.
Bernadette Gasslein, In the  v. 3 Darkness Shines the Splendour
 
See https://vimeo.com/308208360 for a youth choir singing this full hymn.
 
 
Soli ad gloriam Dei
Gospel Mystery of the Day on FaceBook & www.gospelmysteryoftheday.ca