conversion

Galatians 1:13-24; Ps 139 Guide me Lord, along the everlasting way; Luke 10:38-42

"you heard of my former way of life...how i persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it...but when he...called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his son to me, so that i might proclaim him..."


In today's first reading we have Paul's testimony.  He is describing his experience thus far in life how he went from persecutor to proclaimer.

Notice that Paul states that he was persecuting the church of God.

Now, this is important.  There many who claim that the church is man made, yet here we have Paul stating the fact that is is God's doing.  God is the one who founded the church and set it in motion.  When Paul was persecuting the Christians he was persecuting God's church.

Think about how we relate to God's church?  How often do we persecute the church in our own lives by our own choices and actions?

Secondly, once paul had this experience or this encounter with Christ, he decided to wait it out and test it.  HE spent three years in prayer and discernment trying to figure out what this all meant.  He was trying to make sense out of his experience.

Today, many have an experience and rather than sit with for a while they get fanatical only to lose their fervor and lose their focus.  Rather than making it about Christ, they make it about themselves.

Paul takes three years to allow this encounter with Christ to sink in, as they say.

Thirdly, after he settled into his experience with Christ and understood more deeply God's call for him, Paul went to the church to see Cephas (Peter).   For fifteen days he conferred with Peter.

Unlike many today, Paul didn't start his own little church.  He rather joined the church that God had already set in motion.  He checked with the hierarchy before he set out to proclaim.

How many self-prolaimed followers of Christ do just the opposite.  How many "bible" beaters do not follow in the footsteps of the biblical testimony as given by St. Paul.

They forsake the conversion process.  They want to do it on their own and yet Paul himself seeks out the church.

I wonder what Paul and Peter spoke about in those fifteen days?  Perhaps, Paul went to confession to the Vicar of Christ himself.

Fascinating unfolding of the mystery of grace in the life of Paul and the church of God.
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In today's gospel we encounter Martha and Mary.  
Jesus calls Martha to task, "martha, martha you are anxious and worried about many things."

Sounds a lot like our life: anxious, concerned, worried.  How often does our heart and mind get crowded with all that stuff.

Yet, Jesus gives us a recipe for freedom, "There is need of only one thing."

"MAry sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him."

The importance of prayerful listening has a way of alleviating worries, anxiety and all the other stuff that clogs our spiritual arteries.

Besides, as the psalmist reminds us God knows us through and through, with all my ways he is familiar.

This is why being in his presence alleviates our anxiety and worries. This is where our conversion awaits.  This is why Paul took three years to be in silence before entering the fast pace world of proclamation.