Living Catholic with Father Don Wolf
Father Don Wolf, a priest of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, offers a Catholic perspective on the issues confronting each person today.
Living Catholic with Father Don Wolf
February 2, 2025 | "The Power of Paul's Conversion"
What if the key to understanding your faith lies in the ancient stories and traditions that have been guiding believers for centuries? Discover how the dramatic conversion of St. Paul can serve as a blueprint for our own spiritual transformations, urging us to integrate both prayer and action into our daily lives. Through Paul's life-changing encounter with Christ, we're invited to see scripture not just as text but as a living invitation to deepen our faith journey.
This episode explores the concept of encountering God's real presence in our lives through the lens of St. Paul's conversion. Father Wolf emphasizes that true engagement with faith moves beyond attendance to active participation in the sacraments and community, leading to transformation.
• Discussion of the bishops' call for Eucharistic Revival
• Connection between prayer and action in faith
• The transformative encounter of St. Paul's conversion
• Ananias’s significant role in Paul’s journey
• The importance of recognizing Christ beyond mere presence
• Reflection on the disciples’ experience on the road to Emmaus
• Emphasis on community involvement and sacramental life
• Call to deeper engagement with one's faith through personal encounters
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Father Don Wolf is a priest of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. Living Catholic also broadcasts on Oklahoma Catholic Radio several times per week, with new episodes airing every Sunday.
This is Living Catholic with Father Don Wolfe. This show deals with living the Catholic faith in our time, discovering God's presence in our lives and finding hope in His Word. And now your host, father Don Wolfe.
Speaker 2:Welcome Oklahoma to Living Catholic. I'm Father Don Wolfe, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish and rector of the Shrine of Blessed Stanley Rother. The American bishops have been concerned that their people we don't understand or appreciate the truth of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. To this end, they prompted a national movement to focus on this aspect of our faith life together. It's called the Eucharistic Revival, and it's the effort to make sure we name the concern we have and then address it directly.
Speaker 2:The last thing the bishops want is a mere program for its own sake. Nor are they content with a series of prayers or spiritual activities. While these are all necessary as always they are they're not sufficient. They're never sufficient. Necessary as always they are, they're not sufficient. They're never sufficient. In monasteries, when monks gather together to orient their lives, to encounter God most deeply and move their hearts most assuredly in the direction of God's goodness, they pray and they also work. They know their prayer is at the center of their lives, but without the work of their hands their prayers have no traction. So it is the same with the focus of the bishops they want all of us to orient our hearts, but in addition they want us to ready our hands.
Speaker 2:The Eucharistic revival is a renewal of action, not simply a schedule of classes or a time of processions, deepening our understanding of the real presence. There is an example of encounter that catches our attention. It's due to its prominence in the history of the faith, but it's also due to the intricacy of its occurrence that it matters to us. Studying this moment in the life of faith can equip us for appreciating what really lies ahead for us as we walk more closely in the presence of Christ offered to us. Again. It's important for us to know that as we open the scriptures and find all that is described there, we are encountering the work of the Spirit among us. The words open our eyes to what happens in our own lives. They don't just evince a memory of what happened once upon a time. We open the scriptures in order to read our souls, not just to become more well-informed about the history of things or to become more fluent in what others say about religious topics. This is the dynamism coming to that understanding that prompts the work of preaching.
Speaker 2:The preacher is challenged to make the words of the scriptures touch our hearts, as they were intended to do. His job is not to inform as if he were talking about an encyclopedia article. Nor is it his work to teach, laying out all of the connections there might be to what we read and understand, as if he were an engineer making sure the materials in his project matched their specifications. No, the preacher makes the words come alive in the here and now, amid the hearts and minds of the hearers, so that the living word of what we hear moves us by its living force. It's like when a man pronounces the words I love you to the object of his affection, he's not simply informing her of his feelings or presenting a conclusion about his experiences, he's engaging her heart with his heart. She's free to reject the words, but she's not free to pretend they weren't said, because those words have power. So it is among all of us who encounter the scriptures, among all that they are. They're not information, they're invitation, they're power, command, decision. So thus we come to the story of the conversion of St Paul.
Speaker 2:Now this takes place in the ninth chapter of the book of the Acts of the Apostles. It may seem odd to include in a reflection on the Eucharistic revival, since it's not a story directly of the Eucharist, but it is a story about Paul's encounter with the real presence of Christ in his life, one he talked about over and over again in his letters. We do well to pay attention to what encountering Christ was like for him. Again, we read of this encounter with the certainty that it tells us of our encounters as well. We're not Paul, we don't live in the first century, we're not Jewish, nor are we Pharisees, but we are those who search for God's will and we want to know what we are to do in the face of being called to act and to decide. And to this end, paul's conversion is happening now. When we sense the dynamics of his life, we have a window onto our own.
Speaker 2:Paul was a young Pharisee who was convinced the life of faith was so fragile it could not stand any variation of focus or revelation. Specifically, he was anxious to shut down the growing conviction that Jesus, the rabbi from Nazareth, who had been crucified as an insurrectionist and was rumored to have risen from the dead, that he was drawing adherents and believers from the communities of Jerusalem and Damascus. He was enraged that these two large communities were being infected by the growing excitement about Jesus. Following the successful execution of the deacon Stephen, he secured the permission necessary to root out the believers in Damascus. He and his entourage left Jerusalem for Damascus with their eyes set on fulfilling their responsibilities as believers. The word Pharisee, after all, means the pure ones. Paul wanted to maintain the purity of belief and clarity of thought among his people.
Speaker 2:Now, on the way, as is recounted in the Acts of the Apostles, there was a blinding light that shone around them, and Paul was struck to the ground by it. As he was struck, he heard a voice calling his name. The voice said Paul, why do you persecute me? It was an overwhelming experience and, according to the story, he was overwhelmed by the question. The last title in his life he had ever imagined for himself was persecutor. And so he asked who are you? And the answer came I'm Jesus. I am the one you persecute. He received the instructions then to continue on to Damascus, with the promise that further instructions would follow.
Speaker 2:This was the extent of the exchange between Paul and Jesus. It was a kind of auditory revelation accompanied by the blinding light, and when he finally found his feet, he looked around vainly because he discovered he'd been blinded. He became so blind, in fact, he needed the help of those who accompanied him to complete the trip to Damascus. It was a brief interchange, just a few words, but it was an encounter with the real presence of Christ on the road. Now, upon reading of the encounter, the question comes naturally from the story Was the blinding light a kind of experience that damaged his retinas and compromised his eyesight, or was it a kind of internal awareness breaking upon him, surprising him so profoundly that he was bowled over by it? Anyone who has had such a revelation can testify to how powerfully it can alter everything in you. Whatever happened to him, whether its effect was more internal or it was the product of an external experience, for him it was real in every way, and there is nothing more real than being unable to see.
Speaker 2:Those traveling with Paul heard the voice, but they didn't see anyone and presumably didn't see the light. They had their encounter with Christ, as Paul did, and yet, we should note, they were untouched by it. It's an important fact. Our presumption is that, to encounter the truth of Jesus in his life, he'll be changed and the change will be good. In the case of those who were with Paul, they encountered Jesus in a rather extraordinary way and it seemed to have no impact on them at all, other than to cause them to wonder at a voice from out of the sky. This is the truth we're relearning in a powerful way in our day and time the promise of encounter, the presentation of the fact of Jesus given in the gift of sacramental life.
Speaker 2:That encounter is not sufficient to create a response. Without something more, everyone could respond the same way these men responded, that is, with indifference, at least we presume so. They disappear from the story and we hear nothing more about them at all Encountering Jesus personally. They shrug their shoulders, walk their friend into Damascus and left all without doing more than marveling at the bizarre and the unique. Again, we have to notice that encountering Christ is not sufficient.
Speaker 2:If we think about it, encounter was not enough for most of the people whom Jesus encountered in his ministry. There were thousands who ate the bread and fish he miraculously provided. More, thousands brought out their sick to him to have them healed and made whole. He was the ultimate promise for those possessed by evil and tormented by the demonic. And after all that Jesus did for them, after the innumerable stirring miracles that took place at his hand, jesus carried his cross to Calvary alone and died, abandoned and despised. They heard his teaching, they were healed by his miracles, they ate his bread, and none of this was sufficient to cause them to believe in him or to follow him.
Speaker 2:There is something more to the gift of Christ than mere presence. One of our temptations is to imagine that mere attendance will do it for us. While it does matter, as the story of Thomas indicates in John's gospel, it's not sufficient. One of the tragic elements of the English accounts of public school life there in the 19th and early 20th centuries, which is the subject of so many books and novels and memorandum, is that the young men in those schools were surrounded by the piety and sacramental life of the English church, each for a decade, and it produced scant awareness of the evangelical transformation in Christ.
Speaker 2:Mere presence, simple attendance, walking up the aisle to say amen to what is offered, is not a guarantee of encounter. It might turn out to be no more than a sonorous voice from the heavens, good only for a brief comment before the task of getting on with life fills the mind. At least, none of this was sufficient for those who journeyed to Damascus with Paul. But this leads us to ask the deeper question, the one that fills our concerns as we consider our own situation, and it is this what is an encounter? Clearly, the men around Paul encountered Christ. They heard the voice and his self-identification, and yet it seemed to have no lasting impact on them. Considering they were accompanying Paul, precisely because those who were following Jesus were believers in his resurrection, it's hard to imagine they wouldn't have been impressed by what they had run into. A voice speaking to all of them, identifying himself as the very one that Paul was pursuing, would make an impression that was unforgettable. And yet they did nothing to follow up, nothing to indicate it made any difference to them at all, which is, in fact, the case.
Speaker 2:Mere encounter is not enough to change anyone normally, especially an encounter that is anonymous and random. Without an encounter that is direct and purposeful, one that calls to you, perhaps by calling your name, why would we expect it to matter? Even if it is God himself or the Son of God? Simply appearing and revealing oneself won't do. The lesson from the act of the apostles is that it takes something more. That's the lesson here. It takes something more.
Speaker 2:In Paul's encounter, he receives instruction to continue on to Damascus, which he does. He arrives there, spends several days fasting and praying. After all, he's been blinded, and we can step out of the story to note that we readers know something Paul has just discovered, which is the truth is that Paul has been blind his whole life. It's just now that he knows it. In his room in Damascus, he has the chance to entertain this thundering realization, which seemed the most obvious and conclusive part of his whole life was really a mirage, because the road ahead is not clear and certain. Everything he's taken for granted has proved to be different than he imagined. His encounter with Christ has achieved uncertainty and a measure of fear.
Speaker 2:Now in the story it moves to Damascus and to a follower of Christ, ananias. Ananias is praying and then has a vision in which he's instructed by Christ to go where Paul is staying. Now Ananias is troubled by the news he hears, since he's directed to expose himself to Paul as the exact person that Paul has come to, arrest and drag back to Jerusalem. There's an exchange I've always found to be humorous between Ananias and the Lord. After hearing Jesus' direction, he informs Christ that he must not be reading the newspapers very closely. Ananias informs Jesus that Paul is truly a bad man, one who will do irreparable harm to the Christian community if he goes to him. In the Spanish version, all of Paul's concerns is pointedly met by the one verb go. That's what Jesus says to. Paul says to Ananias go. And so Ananias goes, and he goes to visit Paul.
Speaker 2:In the exchange between Ananias and Christ, ananias is informed of the plans that Christ has in store for Paul. Jesus explains that Paul will become integral to the unfolding of the gospel in the time to come and, in addition, paul will suffer as part of the mission of the gospel to the world. As we contemplate what is so often said about trusting in the presence of Christ in our lives and all of the encomiums delivered to us, about the power of God at work in our world, we seldom hear much about suffering. That part of the message is something we should remember. We should also remember that Jesus directs Ananias to visit Paul, as he says go to Judas's house on Straight Street. This seems like a small detail, unlikely in a brief story full of sweeping events that condense a complicated set of occurrences, but it reminds us of the work Ananias has been chosen to accomplish.
Speaker 2:Jesus' real presence is among him. It directs him to do that which apparently only he, ananias, can do. He's directed to Judas' house and he goes because he knows exactly where it is. Which is to say, ananias is chosen for a reason. We do well to remember this. The real presence is not only a claim about the host that we receive as we come down the aisle at communion time. It is the overwhelming truth of Christ present to us in the middle of our lives, leveraging all we are and all we can do to become part of the work of God in the world. The presence of Christ is for the whole world, not simply a possession we receive as a promise of our faith in Jesus.
Speaker 2:Now Paul has himself received a vision and is waiting for Ananias. When he duly arrives and comes into Paul's room and announces he has come in Christ's name, he calls him brother and then lays hands on him and invokes the power of the Holy Spirit. It says something like scales fall from Paul's eyes, allowing him to see for the first time. Ananias then baptizes him and Paul then has something to eat. The dramatic story is over.
Speaker 2:Well, the beginning of the story is over. From then, paul's presence in the community of Christians develops and his role as the premier missionary carrying the message of Christ to all the people in his time and place is assured. He becomes the linchpin in recognizing the importance of the Gentile presence in the church, as he carries the message of Christ to those who lie beyond the Jewish world. Ananias then disappears from the story and we hear no more from him. It may be the case that he went among those to whom he was directed in the city of Damascus and laid hands on them twice a week, or it may be the case that he did it only once, for Paul. Whatever he actually did, all we know is his interaction with Paul and its impact on him. Most of the work we do in the world will remain unknown and unremarked. We disappear into the complicated fabric of the world with scarcely a whimper, just as Ananias did. And at the end of all things, when there is the final accounting of the truth of all things, what we do and how we act will become known. Then, as all others know the truth of their own lives. It may be that we'll have to wait until that time to know ourselves what our contribution really is and what we have contributed to the work of God in the world. Until then, we have to be content to follow the guidance of the Spirit and listen attentively to the directions we receive.
Speaker 2:This story is known as the conversion of St Paul. It's a central moment in the spread of the gospel and it prompts almost every part of the narration in the spread of the gospel and it prompts almost every part of the narration of the Acts of the Apostles from then on. After all, paul is a major character in the life of the church. It's hard to imagine the life of the church without him. And yet it's easy for us to misidentify the point of the story.
Speaker 2:In all of its drama and the sweeping elements of the story, we can presume that the conversion of St Paul was Paul's encounter with Christ. It is by this encounter when Paul ultimately understands what he's been given and then given to do, that he never remains the same. But in the great art of the church and in most preaching, we're content to imagine that the encounter was on the road to Damascus. In fact it wasn't. Paul's crossroads encounter with Christ was the encounter mediated by Ananias, when Ananias brought the presence of Christ to Paul through his presence and his sacramental greeting. In short, when Ananias brought the church to Paul, the encounter with Christ was complete For Paul as for all of the men on the road with him. The encounter with the person of Christ was not sufficient to effect his conversion. He needed more, to turn his heart to the presence of Christ with him. Just like all of us, paul received the fullness of Jesus' presence in his life when the sacraments were brought to him by a member of the church. And just in case we missed the point, this story in the Acts of the Apostles highlights what we're all promised.
Speaker 2:It's not the case that great moments of miracle and wonder are the prompts for great saintly decisions and powerful personalities. Yes, of course the events that great moments of miracle and wonder are the prompts for great saintly decisions and powerful personalities. Yes, of course the events that surround the great saints in the early church are filled with miraculous elements. But the reminder is always present. The key is that Christ is encountered among them. In the same way we encounter him in the fullness of life in the church, mediated by sacramental experiences. By analog, we can compare the apostles' experience of the risen Christ on Easter Sunday morning.
Speaker 2:It's easy to imagine how powerful it was to come to the empty tomb and then to see Jesus risen from the dead. No one could come away from such a moment as remarkable as that, without being moved to the depth of his being. But it wasn't that way at all. Yeah, they came to the tomb and found it empty, but it only prompted questions, not answers. In every case, they needed a prompt, a reminder for them to begin to understand what they were seeing. Even when Jesus did appear to them, they had to be reminded it truly was he. Someone had to testify to them of the truth of what was happening. Even on Easter morning, they had to have a sacramental experience in order to know the real presence of Jesus among them.
Speaker 2:My favorite example of this was when the disciples of Jesus were walking to Emmaus on Easter morning and were joined by the risen Christ. They weren't able to recognize him. He engaged them as they walked on the road, eventually taking the opportunity to instruct them about the presence of the Messiah and the promise of his coming among them. Finally, at the end of the day, this stranger breaks bread with them, and in the breaking of the bread then, they come to recognize him. Their eyes are opened and they know him. Although they had encountered him hours before on the road, it took something else, something besides simply walking, talking, hearing, learning from, studying and disputing with him in order to know him.
Speaker 2:The real presence is something more, something more intimate than simply being there in the same place where he is. The best part is that when they do recognize him, he disappears from their sight. He is more present to them in the breaking of the bread than he has been in his accompaniment all day long, and they know it. At that, they summon their energy and return to Jerusalem, to the company of disciples they left behind when they began their trip, and as they burst through the doors where everyone is gathered, they announce the Lord is risen. They've come to know him in the breaking of bread. But the people in Jerusalem are unimpressed because they already know of the resurrection and of the certainty of this new promise of presence, since Jesus had appeared to Peter and Peter told them about it.
Speaker 2:Real presence is facilitated by proclamation, by witness and by sacrament. It's all right there in the scriptures. Those who were there on Easter morning have no advantage over us. They receive the real presence in exactly the same way and according to the same dynamics as we. When Paul heard the voice of Christ on the road to Damascus, he had to wait until all of the unveiling of sacramental powers was accomplished before the real presence, in all its power, was available to him. That's what we have to remember. The presence of Christ is real, it is certain, and it is for us, and it is for us just as powerfully and as certainly and in the same way as it was for Paul on the road to Damascus. Next week we'll see the need we have to pay attention to the witnesses among us, but we can be certain the real presence is the gift of the church to us. It is the gift of Christ, deeded to his church from Easter Sunday forward, and we're the ones who have been given it Back in just a moment.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to our final segment, faith in Verse, with a poem today called the Great Treasure.
Speaker 2:Where is the great treasure we're to find among us here, you know that, in which we invest the sum of our days, so many versions of where and how to hold close and dear.
Speaker 2:There is such anxiety about the many means and ways and rather than clear agreement about the fundamentals, such that we all know which image to use, we're left with hardly more than mere sentimentals, silly feelings and wry hints whose truths we easily lose.
Speaker 2:Is there any wonder we grasp at the insubstantial grab, at the merest fast-passing fad, that we are so easily marked by the silly and fanciful, such that we can hardly sift the good from the bad until we see some light in the sum of our days, can move toward that which gives at least a hint of the measured pace in the pointed way toward which our future may be bent. Nor is it any wonder we need intervention on our journey toward our great destination, where the great goal of life is subject of mention and our lives can reach their final summation. So don't despise the old books and their great wisdom. They provide the answers we can't live without. Their pages have provided for the great meaning in some, so that we can progress past the crossroads of doubt. That's the great treasure Living Catholic is living in the presence of Christ. I hope that in the weeks to come that you can join us as we continue to explore the depth of Living Catholic.
Speaker 1:Living Catholic is a production of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City for Oklahoma Catholic Radio. To learn more, visit okcrorg.