.....................God's Unforeseeable Initiative...................
After Christ's Resurrection, the Christian community grew rapidly. One of its members, the young deacon Stephen, was arrested and condemned to death.
"They all rushed at him, sent him out of the city and stoned him.
The witnessput down their clothes at the feet of a young man called Saul.
As they were stoning him, Stephen said in invocation, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.'{...}Saul entirely approved of the killing"(Acts 7:57-8:1).
Saul was present when the priests pronounced their judgment by throwing stones.
He was there and approved the sentence.
That Jesus who had been preaching the kingdom of God wanted to take the place of the God of the fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Saul could not accept this.
...................On the way to Damascus................
After few days, Saul's life was drastically changed.
While he was travelling to Damascus, having been sent there by the high priests with a warrant to hunt down as many Christians as possible, a great light suddenly shone around him and he fell to ground. At that moment he heard a voice: "Saul , Saul why are you persecuting me?"
Saul Answered : "Who are you, Lord?"
Saul was so overwhelmed by the beauty of Christ appearing to him that he fell to the ground.
His experience was uniquebut true, it was a vision of God authoritative presence.
After saying His name, the Lord ordered Saul to stand up.
He wanted him to be his minister and witness, a sign that Saul was not only forgiven, but also preferred, chosen and desired for a special task.
From that moment on, everything was different.From now on Saul only concern, his only reason for living was to proclaim Christ to the Jews and to the pagans.
It was like being born anew. He was no longer an oppressor, but a missionary.He even changed his name. He was no longer Saul, but Paul.
...................Created anew by the power of Mercy...................
Before the evidence of the reality of Christ, who appeared to him with His glorious body, Saul felt the enormity of his own sin, the huge weight of the evil he had done
However, more than the darkness of his guilt, he clearly saw the light of divine grace, the mysterious and real power that entrusts each and every Christian with a mission.
The dazzaling light of Christ made Paul blind.But it was precisely this event which blinded him that opened Paul's eyes to the truth of this world, to the meaning of the Sacred Scriptures which he had studied for years, to the true destiny of the people of Israel whom he loved with all his heart.
Christ Jesus come to the world to save sinners. I myself am the greatest of them: and if mercy has been shown to me, it is because Jesus Christ meant to make the greatest evidence of his inexhaustible patience for all other people who would later have to trust him to come eternal life.(First letter to Timothy 1:15-16)
Each one of us, however , has been given his own share of grace, given as Christ allotted it.{...} And to some, his gift was that they should be apostles, to some prophets, to some, evangelists, to some, pastors, and teachers, so that the saints together make a un ity in the work of service, building up the body of Christ.(Ephesians 4:7-12).
Paul is aware that he is an apostle by vocation, not by self selection or human appointment, but only by a divine call and election.
In his letters, more than once the apostle to the Gentiles repeats that everything in his life was the fruit of God's
Gracious initiative and his mercy(Benadict XVI)
By God's grace that is what I am, and the grace that he gave me has not been fruitless.First letter to the (Corinthians 15:10)
