Friday, May 24 (11), 2024
Acts 8:40-9:19; Jn. 6:48-54 

At first St. Paul was so active at defending the Old Covenant order because he was quite certain that the will of God was to keep it unchanged.  In his zeal he was moved not by the pride for the faith of his fathers, but only by his desire to do God’s service.  That was the spirit of his life ─ to sacrifice himself and all his energy to God and His holy will.  Thus, for his conversion ─ or for turning him from the Old Covenant to the New ─ it was enough to clearly show him that God has moved His good will from keeping the Old Covenant as it had been known in the past to the establishing of the New Covenant.

That was achieved by the appearance of the Lord to St. Paul on his way to Damascus.  He realized that his zeal was misdirected, that it was not pleasing God, but rather going contrary to His will.  Having seen that, with the help of God’s grace, St. Paul immediately changed his mind and cried out: “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?”  [Acts 9:6].  And from that instant on, St. Paul applied all his energy to fulfilling what he was told to do, never forgetting that event, but remembering it with gratitude, thus rekindling his resolve to sacrifice his whole life to work for his Lord and Savior.

His example is followed, and has to be followed, by all those who have earnestly decided to live their lives for the Lord.

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