Conversion

Saint Paul, a zealous man eager to stamp out the "Christian heresy" from among the Jews, persecuted the Christians by identifying them, capturing them and killing them. At the martyrdom of the first Christian martyr, Saint Stephen the Deacon, Saint Paul held the cloaks of the other men as they stoned Saint Stephen to death.
But now, thanks to a miraculous intervention from God and the wise invitation from the Christian Ananias, Saint Paul converted his zeal away from persecution of Christians and towards proclamation of the Gospel.
The first lesson for us taken from the Conversion of Saint Paul is that no matter what evils a man has done, even the evil of murder, conversion is always possible if we accept the signs God gives us and follow the directions of the Church.
The second lesson is that God intends for all men to convert to the Way of his Son and to enter the Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ. Therefore, we must invite everyone to do so, neglecting to extend this invitation to no one, not even the worst of our enemies.
The third lesson is that God needs tough Christians like Saint Paul to get the job of evangelization done. Pope Benedict is asking us all to boldly take us the task of what Pope John Paul II called “the New Evangelization”. We live in an age of widespread ignorance of the truths of the Faith among Catholics, and near universal neglect of the task of evangelization in our neighborhoods. But Christ commands us to, "Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.” Why does he command this? Because, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Those who accept the Gospel Truth concerning faith and morals and who are baptized into the death and Resurrection of Christ will live in Christ’s grace and then go to Heaven. Those who reject any part of the Gospel Truth concerning faith and morals will remain a captive of Satan and will go to Hell.
That’s reason enough for good Christians to convert from complacency and start doing the work God assigns us of bringing him converts to the fullness of truth and morals, and to the fullness of the one, true Church.
This is not an easy task, as evidenced by the later martyrdom of Saint Paul. But God gives us everything we need to accomplish the mission, because he gives us the Truth and the sacraments. With these, we drive out demons, we speak the language each man can understand, we engage in hand-to-hand combat with the ancient serpent Satan, and we remain unharmed by the cultural poisons of deception and temptation he delivers us. We heal the sick as Christ heals the sick souls of our world.
Let us meditate on these words of Christ today, as we celebrate the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul the Apostle:
Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them:
"Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.
These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.
They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."