Confirmed the word through accompanying signs

25 JANUARY (Mk 16,15-18)

Saint Paul is the biggest miracle performed by Jesus after his glorious resurrection. He is a miracle by electrocution, instant fusion, immediate reconstruction after the heart of God the Father, immersion in the fullness of the truth, illumination and gift of intelligence of the Ancient Scriptures. Here is how he himself recounts the miracle.

“My brothers and fathers, listen to what I am about to say to you in my defense.” When they heard him addressing them in Hebrew they became all the more quiet. And he continued, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city. At the feet of Gamaliel I was educated strictly in our ancestral law and was zealous for God, just as all of you are today. I persecuted this Way to death, binding both men and women and delivering them to prison. Even the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify on my behalf. For from them I even received letters to the brothers and set out for Damascus to bring back to Jerusalem in chains for punishment those there as well. “On that journey as I drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from the sky suddenly shone around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ I replied, ‘Who are you, sir?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazorean whom you are persecuting.’ My companions saw the light but did not hear the voice of the one who spoke to me. I asked, ‘What shall I do, sir?’ The Lord answered me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told about everything appointed for you to do.’ Since I could see nothing because of the brightness of that light, I was led by hand by my companions and entered Damascus.

“A certain Ananias, a devout observer of the law, and highly spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, came to me and stood there and said, ‘Saul, my brother, regain your sight.’ And at that very moment I regained my sight and saw him. Then he said, ‘The God of our ancestors designated you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the sound of his voice; for you will be his witness 2 before all to what you have seen and heard. Now, why delay? Get up and have yourself baptized and your sins washed away, calling upon his name.’ “After I had returned to Jerusalem and while I was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance and saw the Lord saying to me, ‘Hurry, leave Jerusalem at once, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ But I replied, ‘Lord, they themselves know that from synagogue to synagogue I used to imprison and beat those who believed in you. And when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I myself stood by giving my approval and keeping guard over the cloaks of his murderers.’ Then he said to me, ‘Go, I shall send you far away to the Gentiles.'” (At 22,1-21).

Of no other saint the day of his “conversion”, “electrocution”, “beginning of the sequel after Jesus”, is celebrated. Today, celebrating Paul, the Church intends to celebrate the freedom of Jesus Christ concerning his own Church. Jesus acts in the Church and outside of her, but always for her. He works outside to give glory in her. The Church is the very heart of Jesus and he always looks for souls out to make her shining on her inside, making her become missionary, true announcer and witness of the Gospel.

He said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents (with their hands), and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.

We can quite well say that St. Paul is an instrument of the Church, but not one of her fruits. He is the fruit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, the fruit of the truth and grace, the result of the constant support and help of the Holy Spirit, that never abandons him, always moves him, pointing him the way of the mission among the nations. This is the day of the Lordship of Christ over all of humanity. His grace is so big as to turn a persecutor into a great missionary of the Gospel. Never has in the Church arisen a greater missionary than Paul. He really spent his whole life for the Gospel, and all he has done for it, to gain someone to Lord Jesus.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints make us true missionaries of Jesus.