[Salvation]

Catholic Culture

Daily Readings for: January 25, 2012
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: O God, who taught the whole world through the preaching of the blessed Apostle Paul, draw us, we pray, nearer to you through the example of him whose conversion we celebrate today, and so make us witnesses to your truth in the world. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

ACTIVITIES

• Apostle Cookies
• Conversion of St. Paul
• Namedays
• St. Paul and the Epistle Charades
• What is a Nameday?

PRAYERS

• Novena for Church Unity
• Novena for Purification
• Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity

LIBRARY

• The Keys of Forgiveness: The Loving Power of the Successor of Peter | Sandro Magister
• Ut Unum Sint (That They May Be One) | Pope John Paul II

Ordinary Time: January 25th

  Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, Apostle Old Calendar: Conversion of St. Paul

St. Paul, named Saul at his circumcision, a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, was born at Tarsus, the capitol of Cilicia. He was a Roman citizen. He was brought up as a strict Jew, and later became a violent persecutor of the Christians. While on his way to Damascus to make new arrests of Christians, he was suddenly converted by a miraculous apparition of Our Lord. From a fierce persecutor he became the great Apostle of the Gentiles. He made three missionary journeys which brought him to the great centers of Asia Minor and southern Europe, and made many converts. Fourteen of his Epistles are found in the New Testament. He was beheaded in Rome in 66, and his body is kept in the Basilica of St. Paul near the Ostian Way.

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

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St. Paul
St. Paul was born at Tarsus, Cilicia, of Jewish parents who were descended from the tribe of Benjamin. He was a Roman citizen from birth. As he was "a young man" at the stoning of Stephen and "an old man" when writing to Philemon, about the year 63, he was probably born around the beginning of the Christian era.

To complete his schooling, St. Paul was sent to Jerusalem, where he sat at the feet of the learned Gamaliel and was educated in the strict observance of the ancestral Law. Here he also acquired a good knowledge of exegesis and was trained in the practice of disputation. As a convinced and zealous Pharisee, he returned to Tarsus before the public life of Christ opened in Palestine.

Some time after the death of Our Lord, St. Paul returned to Palestine. His profound conviction made his zeal develop to a religious fanaticism against the infant Church. He took part in the stoning of the first martyr, St. Stephen, and in the fierce persecution of the Christians that followed.

Entrusted with a formal mission from the high priest, he departed for Damascus to arrest the Christians there and bring them bound to Jerusalem. As he was nearing Damascus, about noon, a light from heaven suddenly blazed round him. Jesus with His glorified body appeared to him and addressed him, turning him away from his apparently successful career.

An immediate transformation was wrought in the soul of St. Paul. He was suddenly converted to the Christian Faith. He was baptized, changed his name from Saul to Paul, and began travelling and preaching the Faith. He was martyred as an Apostle in Rome around 65 AD.

— Excerpted from Lives of the Saints

Patron: Against snakes; authors; Cursillo movement; evangelists; hailstorms; hospital public relations; journalists; lay people; missionary bishops; musicians; poisonous snakes; public relations personnel; public relations work; publishers; reporters; rope braiders; rope makers; saddlemakers; saddlers; snake bites; tent makers; writers; Malta; Rome; Poznan, Poland; newspaper editorial staff Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Diocese of Covington, Kentucky; Diocese of Birmingham, Alabama; Diocese of Las Vegas, Nevada; Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island; Diocese of Worcester, Massachusetts.

Symbols: Book and sword; three fountains; two swords; scourge; serpent and a fire; armour of God; twelve scrolls with names of his Epistles; phoenix; palm tree; shield of faith; sword; book.

Often portrayed as: Thin-faced elderly man with a high forehead, receding hairline and long pointed beard; man holding a sword and a book; man with 3 springs of water nearby.

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The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
Eight Days reflecting on our change in Christ

Day Eight: United in the Reign of Christ
To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne (Rv 3:21)

On this last day of our week of prayer for Christian Unity we celebrate the Reign of Christ. Christ’s victory enables us to look into the future with hope. This victory overcomes all that keeps us from sharing fullness of life with him and with each other. Christians know that unity among us is above all a gift of God. It is a share in Christ’s glorious victory over all that divides.

Vatican Resources

[Salvation]

The Word Among Us

Meditation: Acts 22:3-16

The Conversion of St.Paul

About noon a great light from the sky suddenly shone around me. (Acts 22:6)

Have you taken a close look at your bathroom mirrors lately? The daily routine of brushing your teeth, washing your face, and combing your hair in front of a mirror can leave a build-up of water marks, left­over toothpaste, and hairspray, all obstructing your reflection and giving you a miry view of your appearance. But with just a little glass cleaner and some paper towels, you can wipe the grime away, enabling you to see your reflection clearly without any spots or buildup.

In today’s first reading, the buildup that hindered Paul’s view about his life was removed when he met the Lord on the Damascus road. The revelation of Jesus—and of him­self—moved Paul to turn away from his old way of thinking and embrace the church he had been persecut­ing. With a new clarity of vision and a new understanding of who God is and how he works, Paul turned his heart to Jesus, and immedi­ately began preaching in the streets of Damascus. You can just imagine him telling people about his own experience of the Lord and urging them to turn to Jesus so that they too could come to see him as clearly as Paul had.

What made Paul so passionate and so clear? His conversion, that’s what. The moment Jesus entered his life, everything changed! Paul knew what he was like before that day, and he saw how God had been at work transforming him from that point on. That one event was so powerful that the story is told three times in the Book of Acts alone—not to men­tion all the times Paul refers to it in his letters!

Take some time today to write down the story of your own faith journey. Even if you didn’t have a dramatic “road to Damascus” expe­rience, it is still important to write down how God has been at work, giving you a clearer vision of your­self and of his love. St. Paul himself shows us that a clear mind always leads to a pure heart.

“Praise you, Lord, for your love for me is strong and mighty! You are forever faithful to everyone who trusts in your name. May I always live to give you glory and honor!”

Psalm 117:1-2; Mark 16:15-18