Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul
(Acts 22:3-16; Mark 16:15-18)
The other day it was reported that a young baseball player with ample potential was giving up the sport to study for the priesthood. The article marveled that a person would forfeit the opportunity to earn millions of dollars for what it termed as “a calling.” The young man says that baseball is “only a game” implying that his calling holds much deeper meaning.
In a way this baseball player’s story resembles Paul’s in the first reading today. Both are called to change their respective courses in life. From ferreting out Christians, Paul is mandated by Jesus to carry on his mission. It would be hard to overestimate the sacrifices that Paul will make as Jesus’ preacher. In one of his letters he lists the brushes with death that he has undergone. More than that, perhaps, are the discomforts and the rejection he endured daily to carry the gospel to far off lands.
We should ask “why?” What moves people to make such sacrifices. The motive seems to be more than ambition or an ideal that they want to see realized. Most probably it is a love relationship with the Lord who takes over not only the mind but the heart. The baseball player wants to shift his whole attention to Jesus so that he might know him completely and then offer him his whole self. Paul does just that, and Jesus returns the affection by making himself Paul’s consolation in every trial.
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