September Year of St. Paul

Year of St. Paul

by Josephine Cachia

Third in a series of Reflections on the Life of Saint Paul

For the Jubilee Year of St. Paul

June 28, 2008-June 29, 2009

on the writings of St. Paul and how these writings have influenced our lives and continue to enable us to grow in the Life of the Spirit.

St. Paul’s encounter with Jesus was the beginning of his conversion. Each of us in our own unique meetings with Jesus comes to realize that to be in a relationship with the Lord we are called to be ever open to his Holy Spirit. If we are open to this dynamic Spirit of God our lives begin and continue to change. It is interesting to note that when we allow him to operate in our lives he moves us in ways we would not imagine. For instance when I commit myself to the Lord he becomes the reality of my being: affecting the choices that I make, the way that I relate to others and the thoughts that I engage in. As a result every aspect of my life is to be renewed in Christ. In the circumstances of my life He beckons me to deepen my faith in Him so that I can walk into a future filled with hope.

Conversion that is ongoing takes us out of a life of sin and into a transformed life in Jesus where sin and darkness have no power. “You were once in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth” (Eph 5: 8-9). The light of faith enables us to see the darkness and exposes it for what it is. St. Paul’s experiences of the person of Jesus enabled him to overcome the powers of darkness that inhabits the descendants of Adam. Paul relied on the power of the Spirit to inform and reform him as he ministered to God’s people knowing that, “Our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with evil spirits in the heavens” (Eph 6:12).

In my own experience of ongoing conversion I liken it to inviting someone into my home (knowing that I think I have everything in order) preparing a meal and hoping that the person I invited will feel welcomed and at home. I know I would become a bit unnerved if that person began to rearrange the furniture or even perhaps, God forbid, change the menu. When we invite Jesus to be the Lord of our life he not only changes and rearranges the “furniture” (obstacles) and changes the “menu” into his plan for our life, but in fact he cleans up the mess that sin and selfness leave in its wake.

“I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having any righteousness of my own” (Phil 3: 8-9).

Ongoing conversion brings freedom to become the person that I am intended to be, holy and loving in His sight. “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus (Phil 1:6).