The Conversion of St.Paul - a reflection for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity always falls within the week of the Feast of the Conversion of St.Paul. 

The Conversion of St.Paul

Saul’s sudden conversion and transformation into St.Paul may seem rather alien to many of us. I don’t deny that for some people they do have an immediate and sudden conversion or revelation of faith. For others, like myself, that conversion to faith was and is more gradual. As a child I took myself to church because I enjoyed the services. As a teenager I only went to chapel at school but is was as a young adult that my faith deepened and my life changed. My gradual conversion led me into a deeper understanding and acceptance of God and the man Jesus, this inspired me to try and live a life like his. I had no sudden 'lightbulb' moment but was converted none-the-less by Christ. Your journey of faith maybe similar.

Saul was a persecutor of Christians, a zealous Jew who could not accept Jesus as Messiah. On that road to Damascus things changed and Paul became an ardent promoter of the Christian faith. I suspect many could not quite believe his conversion and probably suspected that he had ulterior motives.He was at first kept at arms length by the Early Church members, wondering if in fact it was a way of infiltrating the Church in order to destroy it. We now know it wasn’t but 2000+ years ago Paul had to work hard to gain acceptance and trust. Today we remember his conversion and give thanks for his rôle in the spread of the Church across the globe. No matter how you came to faith, I suspect that some his words have fed you along the way, and probably like me some of his writing might have annoyed you as well! But the one thing you can always say of Paul is that he makes you think about your faith and that is always a good thing.