his mind about Jesus. At first, being a devoted Jew, he had attempted to eradicate those who followed Jesus. After his experience of the great light, blindness, and baptism, he changes his mind. Unknown to Saul, he discovers that he has been persecuting Jesus. This change in mind results in change in behavior. He no longer preaches against Jesus and his disciples; now, he declares that Jesus is the Son of God and Messiah.
There is a depth to conversion that can be missed easily by contemporary people. It is not about church hopping until we find one that makes us feel good. It is about a radical change that occurs deep down within us because of an encounter with the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit. Through reflection, we discover that the Father protected us from harm in an auto accident; this causes us to see God’s Fatherly care in many more ways. The change in our behavior is witnessed in driving more carefully—eyes on the road, hands on the steering wheel, cell phone turned off.
We may experience the Son while volunteering at the local soup kitchen. A fellow worker or a homeless person makes us aware that as human beings we are brothers and sisters. More volunteering results; we desire to serve Christ in those suffering from natural disasters—tornados, floods, earthquakes—and find ourselves on the ground ministering to those in need.
An idea or thought sits in our consciousness; it may have come from a newspaper, book, or magazine. It may have come from a biblical passage. We are inspired to do something, and we act on the idea. The Holy Spirit has been at work, changing our minds and changing our behaviors. That is deep conversion; that is the conversion that Saul experienced.
Meditation: What recent experience of deep conversion have you had? What change occurred in your mind and in your behavior?
Prayer: God of St. Paul, through Jesus, your servant and your Son, you called the persecutor of your Church to be its greatest defender. Through revelation, you changed his mind about the Messiah and filled him with the Holy Spirit so that he would proclaim Jesus to be your Son. Bring us to deep conversion, that we may imitate Saul, preaching Jesus as your Son and our Messiah. He lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
Go!
Mark 16:15–18
Scripture: [Jesus said to the Eleven,] “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15).
Reflection: Mark’s Gospel has three canonical endings, a fact which often comes as a surprise even to avid Bible readers. The original ending occurs at 16:8. At another time, another sentence was added to 16:8, which has come to be known as the shorter ending. At still another time, verses 9 through 20 were added; this is known as the longer ending. Today’s pericope is taken from the longer ending of Mark’s Gospel which seems to be a summary and combination of the endings of Matthew’s Gospel and Luke’s Gospel.
The Lectionary omits the introductory verse to today’s passage: Jesus “appeared to the eleven . . . as they were sitting at the table; and he upbraided them for their lack of faith and stubbornness, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen” (16:14). Then, he told them to go into the whole world and announce the good news to the whole creation.
The passage is chosen for this Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul because, even though he was not one of the eleven, he went into the whole world and proclaimed the good news of salvation. Furthermore, in the churches he established, he baptized and appointed leaders. He cast out demons in the name of Jesus Christ. He handled a deadly snake, and he healed the sick by laying his hands on their heads. In other words, the deeds of Paul recorded in the Acts of the Apostles—and in his own letters—are summarized by the longer ending of Mark’s Gospel.
Like Paul, conversion sends us on our way. We hear the command, “Go!” In a culture that does not like change, conversion is the antidote. Jesus had to reproach the eleven for their unbelief and hardness of heart; in other words, he called them to conversion. He called Saul to conversion. He calls us to conversion.
Go, volunteer to take communion to the sick of your parish and to those in nursing homes. Go, sign up to help with disaster relief. Go, spend a few hours in the local soup kitchen, food pantry, or medical clinic. Go, prepare others for baptism through membership on your parish Rite of Christian Initiation team, or go, prepare parents for the baptism of their children. If others are to hear the good news—Jesus died and God raised him—we have to go to wherever and to whomever we are called by God or led by the Holy Spirit.
Meditation: How has a conversion experience sent you to others?
Prayer: Almighty God, you sent your Son into the world to be its salvation. Once he converted Paul, he sent him to announce the good news to all creation. Give us the guidance of the Holy Spirit that we may know the ministry to which you call us and, then, send us with the gospel that Jesus Christ lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
January 26: Memorial of Sts. Timothy and Titus, Bishops
Faithfulness
(1) 2 Timothy 1:1–8
Scripture: “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord” (2 Tim 1:1–2).
Reflection: There is no doubt that Paul had an associate named Timothy. Some of the genuine Pauline letters are sent by Paul and Timothy, such as 2 Corinthians, Philippians, and 1 Thessalonians. Paul identifies Timothy as his co-worker in Romans (16:21) and 1 Thessalonians (3:2). Luke mentions Timothy at least seven times in the Acts of the Apostles, identifying him as a disciple having a Jewish mother and a Greek father (16:1).
However, most biblical scholars do not think that Paul wrote either the first or second letter to Timothy. These letters betray a time long after Paul is dead. They are written in Pauline style and contain many Pauline ideas, but presume a developed church that did not yet exist during Paul’s lifetime. It is best to understand Timothy in the letters written to him as any leader of a church near the end of the first century and the beginning of the second century AD.
In today’s first option for this Memorial of Sts. Timothy and Titus, the passage, which is proper for the memorial, consists of the first eight verses of the second letter to Timothy. The anonymous author of the letter displays his familiarity with references to Timothy in other biblical literature. In the greeting of the letter, the author refers to Timothy as “my beloved child” (1:2), echoing 1 Corinthians 4:17, where Paul calls him “my beloved and faithful child in the Lord.”
The author writes to Timothy, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you” (1:5). In 1 Corinthians 4:17, Paul reminds the Christians in Corinth that he sent Timothy to them to remind them “of [his] ways in Christ Jesus, as [he] teache[s] them everywhere in every church.” And in 1 Corinthians 16:10, Paul tells the addressees that Timothy is “doing the work of the Lord just as [he is].” In his letter to the Philippians, Paul tells the believers in Philippi that they know Timothy’s worth, that “like a son with a father he has served with [him] in the work of the gospel” (2:22).
Today’s passage is presented as a required option for this memorial because it tells Timothy “to rekindle the gift of God that is within [him] through the laying on of [Paul’s] hands” (1:6). The laying on of hands is the sign of the sacrament of holy orders today. Since Timothy is designated a bishop, the passage emphasizes his reception of God’s “spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline” (1:7). As a
