The Conversion of Saint Paul … a modern iconPatrick Comerford
Next Tuesday, 25 January 2022, is the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul.
The readings for this festival in the Revised Common Lectionary, as adapted for use in the Church of Ireland, are:
The Readings: Jeremiah 1: 4-10; Psalm 67; Acts 9: 1-22; Matthew 19: 27-30.
Introducing the Festival:
The Conversion of Saint Paul is celebrated throughout the Church – in the Anglican, Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Orthodox traditions on 25 January.
This festival recalls the Conversion of Saul of Tarsus while he was engaged in the brutal persecution of the early Christians. This day also marks the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
The Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul recalls the Conversion of Saul of Tarsus while he was engaged in the brutal persecution of the early Christians. This momentous event has inspired great works of art and music, including not one but two paintings by Caravaggio (1571-1610) and great choral and musical compositions.
In popular conversation, this event means that when people talk about a ‘Road to Damascus’ experience, even outside the Christian context, they are talking about a sudden conversion of heart or change of mind.
The Acts of the Apostles (Acts 9: 1-22) recalls that while Saul was on the road to Damascus to persecute the Christian community there, he was blinded by a brilliant light, fell to the ground and heard the voice of Christ saying: ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? … I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.’
Saul is taken by the hand and led to a house in Damascus, where he locks himself away for three days while he is without sight, neither eating nor drinking. But there he is visited and attended to by Ananias, who lays hands on him and prays that he should be filled with the Holy Spirit and regain his vision.
Saul’s sight is restored, and he is baptised; Saul of Tarsus becomes Paul the Apostle, and he goes on to be one of the principal founding figures in Early Christianity.
Given the magnitude of Saint Paul’s transgressions and his violent attempts to completely eradicate Christianity, his dramatic conversion experience teaches us that no sinner is beyond forgiveness, no matter how terrible those sins may appear to be.
It calls on us to be constantly aware of the challenges and calls from God that we will receive throughout our ministry and mission, those calls to new journeys and pilgrimages even at times – especially at times – when we are too confident and too self-assured, when we pretend to ourselves and others that our blind prejudices are religious certainties rather than accepting that they may be tearing the Body of Christ apart.
Saint Paul preaching in Athens … a panel on the Comerford Pulpit formerly in Carlow Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Saint Paul and Christian Unity:
For over 100 years, this day has also marked the end of the eight days of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, running from 18 January to 25 January.
The two early promoters of this week were both named Paul: the Anglican Father Paul Wattson, co-founder of the Society of the Atonement, or the Graymoor Franciscan Friars, and the Roman Catholic Abbé Paul Coutrier of Lyons, who has been called ‘the spiritual father of ecumenism.’
The Apostle Paul constantly tells us that there is only one Lord, one Faith and one Baptism (Ephesians 4: 5). He tells us that in Christ ‘there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female’ (Galatians 3: 28; see I Corinthians 12: 13, Colossians 3: 11).
This day – the Conversion of Saint Paul – constantly calls us to new and ever-renewing conversions, to abandon our old prejudices, and to work constantly for unity of the Body of Christ.
The Apostle Paul’s entire life is explained in terms of one experience – his meeting with Christ on the road to Damascus. Although he had a zealot’s hatred for Christ, who was just a few years older than him, Saint Paul probably never saw Jesus before the Ascension. Yet he was determined in chasing down the followers of Christ: ‘entering house after house and dragging out men and women, he handed them over for imprisonment’ (Acts 8: 3b).
Saint Paul, who was blind in his prejudice, is blinded so that he can have a new vision. He is imprisoned so that he can bring his great message to the world. And the magnitude of his sins, including his attempts to wipe out Christianity completely, show us clearly that no matter how terrible the sin may be any sinner may be forgiven.
In the same way, the Apostle Peter’s denial of Christ – three times during his Passion – did not put him beyond the forgiveness and love of Christ. Saint Peter too, in an effort to save his own skin, denied he knew the prisoner, but became a prisoner himself and a martyr for Christ.
No matter what our failings and our weaknesses, no matter where our blind spots may be, Christ calls us – not once but constantly – to turn around, to turn towards him, to turn our lives around, to turn them over to him.
Instead of his persecution, Saint Paul is remembered as the first and greatest missionary.
Instead of his three denials, Saint Peter is remembered for his confession of faith, his acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah or the Christ, recorded in the three synoptic Gospels (Matthew 16: 13-20; Mark 8: 13-20; Luke 9: 18-20). That Confession of Saint Peter was marked many Church calendars the previous Tuesday [18 January 2022].
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity – or rather, the Octave of Christian Unity – from 18 to 25 January, linking those two feasts, was first suggested in 1908 by an American Episcopalian or Anglican monk, Father Paul Wattson, who was the superior of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement, and who reintroduced Franciscan life to the Anglican Communion.
Appropriately, the icon of Christian Unity in the Eastern Orthodox tradition shows Peter and Paul embracing – almost wrestling – arms around each other, beards so close they are almost inter-twining. Every time I see this icon, I think of Psalm 133:
How very good and pleasant it is
when [brothers] live together in unity!
It is like the precious oil on the head,
running down upon the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
running down over the collar of his robes.
It is like the dew of Hermon,
which falls on the mountains of Zion.
For there the Lord ordained his blessing,
life for evermore.
So, despite many readings of the New Testament, especially the Acts of the Apostles, that see Saint Peter and Saint Paul in conflict with each other rather than complementing each other, they can be models for Church Unity.
Without that unity in the Early Church, its mission would have been hamstrung and hampered. For without unity there can be no effective mission, as the great Edinburgh Missionary Conference realised in 1910. And so the modern ecumenical movement has real roots in the mission of the Church.
Acts 9: 1-22 (NRSVA):
1 Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ 5 He asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The reply came, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.’ 7 The men who were travelling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. 8Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
10 Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, ‘Ananias.’ He answered, ‘Here I am, Lord.’ 11 The Lord said to him, ‘Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, 12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.’ 13 But Ananias answered, ‘Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; 14 and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.’ 15 But the Lord said to him, ‘Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; 16 I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.’ 17 So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ 18 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.
For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, 20 and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God.’ 21 All who heard him were amazed and said, ‘Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem among those who invoked this name? And has he not come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?’ 22 Saul became increasingly more powerful and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Messiah.
Matthew 19: 27-30 (NRSVA):
27 Then Peter said in reply, ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?’ 28 Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.
Liturgical Resources:
Liturgical Colour: White
Penitential Kyries:
Lord, you are gracious and compassionate.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
You are loving to all,
and your mercy is over all your creation.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Your faithful servants bless your name,
and speak of the glory of your kingdom.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Collect:
O God,
who caused the light of the Gospel
to shine throughout the world
through the preaching of tour servant Saint Paul:
Grant that we who celebrate his wonderful conversion
may follow him in bearing witness to your truth;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Introduction to the Peace:
We are fellow citizens with the saints
and of the household of God,
through Christ our Lord,
who came and preached peace to those who were far off
and those who were near. (Ephesians 2: 19, 17)
Preface:
In the saints
you have given us an example of godly living,
that, rejoicing in their fellowship,
we may run with perseverance the race that is set before us,
and with them receive the unfading crown of glory:
Post Communion Prayer:
Gracious God,
you filled your apostle Paul with love for all the churches.
May this sacrament which we have received
foster love and unity among your people.
This we ask in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Blessing:
God give you grace
to share the inheritance of Paul and of his saints in glory:
Recommended Hymns:
Jeremiah 1: 4-10:
10, All my hope on God is founded
631, God be in my head
589, Lord, speak to me, that I may speak
597, Take my life, and let it be
Psalm 67:
695, God of mercy, God of grace
Acts 9: 1-22
642, Amazing grace (how sweet the sound!)
218, And can it be that I should gain
643, Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart
501, Christ is the world’s true Light
610, Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life
460, For all your saints in glory
13, God moves in a mysterious way
94, In the name of Jesus
581, I, the Lord of sea and sky
588, Light of the minds that know him
589, Lord, speak to me, that I may speak
195, Lord, the light of your love is shining
591, O happy day that fixed my choice
594, O Lord of creation, to you be all praise!
625, Prayer is the soul's sincere desire
488, Stand up, stand up for Jesus
597, Take my life, and let it be
660, Thine for ever! God of love
115, Thou art the Way: to thee alone
605, Will you come and follow me
Matthew 19: 27-30:
147, Angels, from the realms of glory
97, Jesus shall reign where’er the sun
597, Take my life, and let it be
662, Those who would valour see (He who would valiant be)
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
Material from The Book of Common Prayer (the Church of Ireland, 2004) is copyright © Representative Body of the Church of Ireland 2004.
Material from Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England is copyright © The Archbishops’ Council 2000.
The hymn suggestions are provided in Sing to the Word (2000), edited by Bishop Edward Darling. The hymn numbers refer to the Church of Ireland’s Church Hymnal (5th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000).
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