Saint Paul’s Conversion | Religious Experience
This essay is in part of my Religious Experience college class. I will discuss story of Paul first, then give my reflection.
In reading about Paul’s conversion, it started with a young man named Saul, being the witness and facilitator to the stoning of Stephen. The reason behind Stephen being stoned was because he declared that he saw the Son of Man or Jesus standing at God’s right hand.
Saul was a Pharisee, hating the followers of Jesus. He had a strong opposition to the disciples of the Lord, he would actively persecute Chrristians. Hunting them down, bringing them to trial in Jerusalem. He did this because he believed he was doing the will of Jehovah.
Saul went to Damascus, to ask permission to arrest any Jewish Christians he found. He would seek to murder them.
Walking through the route to Damascus, a divine light from heaven flashed around him. It was bright enough to make Saul blind. He fell to the ground, then he heard a voice calling his name “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”. Saul cried out “who are you, sir?”. The voice replied “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do.”.
When Saul got up and opened his eyes, he could not see anything. So the men who accompanied Saul led him into the city. With Saul witnessing this, he was convinced that Jesus was the Messiah. After that, they arrived in Damascus, where Saul would heal. After three days, a man named Ananias (a faithful disciple in the city) would be called by the Lord to go to Saul and restore his sight.
Saul was after to see again, and with that experience, Saul would have great energy or enthusiasm towards being a follower of God. This was a dawning realization for him. He would make it his mission to preach about Jesus. After his conversion, Saul would change his name to Paul.
Because of Paul’s strong proclamation, it would result in attempts to kill him. One is where he was let down from a basket over a wall. He would venture off to the city of Jerusalem. Paul grew more and more powerful spiritually. Paul shared what Jesus and Peter taught him. These ideas Paul had spread made a commotion in Jerusalem. Jews attempted again to kill Paul. And after that, Paul went to Tarsus (his hometown), where stayed for about 3 years.
A significant moment is when I was at the Capuchin Retreat Center, for a retreat during my senior high school year. It was called The La verna Experience, “La verna” relating to the climb of Saint Francis to Mount La verna. On the 2nd day of the retreat, I encountered God and felt a change of life in the chapel (part of the building), when we were about to confess. I wrote all my sins on a form, and confessed all of it. When I confessed it to the priest, I really felt near God when talking to him. After the confession, I think we were asked to burn the paper with our sins written.
This experience was heartwarming. I was able to recognize Him. I know that I have the tendency, whether I understand what I am doing or not, can be a sin towards others or myself. Knowing about God humbles me. God is telling me to just clearly follow what He had proclaimed. To understand it and have application in my life right now.
Reflecting on Saint Paul’s Conversion, I discovered how God can turn the ferocious opponent of the Lord into his most willing servant. God can save anyone.
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