STAYING POWER OF GOD

Feast of the Conversion of Paul, Apostle

 

STAYING POWER OF GOD

 

He got up and was baptized…. – Acts 9:18

 

On the morning of February 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia re-entered the earth’s atmosphere after a 16-day scientific mission. A few minutes before its expected landing, the shuttle burst into flames, lost its power, disintegrated and crashed in the desert of California.

Columbia needed a large amount of power for it to take off from earth, to stay up in the sky and return to earth. It needed 1.9 million liters of fuel (approximately 47 thousand cars with full tank) and five million pounds of energy (equivalent to the weight of 25,000 200-pound men) to push the shuttle 23 miles up in the sky in two minutes. Saul became a changed man through the power of the Holy Spirit. This same power fueled him to spread the Gospel and sustained Him through all the trials and persecutions he faced.

Our human powers are limited. If we rely only on our own powers, we just might end up like the space shuttle Columbia. We won’t be able to sustain our flight. But if we turn to God, the Source of all power, and allow Him to take control of our lives, we can fly high. Judith Concepcion (svp_jmc@yahoo.com)

 

REFLECTION:

“They that hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagles’ wings. They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)

 

Empower me with Your Spirit, oh Lord.

 

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE CONVERTED?

 

The story of Paul’s conversion ought to cause anyone with sense to reflect on the meaning of their life. He believes he is a man with a God-given mission and yet he is totally wrong in his most fundamental suppositions. He encounters Jesus and his life is turned upside down and inside out! It is enough to make any sinner tremble with trepidation and begin to wonder if they are really on the right path.

Paul is not bad — he is in fact a good man. However, goodness in this sense is not a measure of whether or not he has a correct understanding of either faith or God. Listening to a preacher over the last weekend, I heard him say that it is not the “good person” who will enter heaven, but the one who is obedient to God’s will. What he means is that we assign the adjective “good” to a person without understanding about salvation. Avoiding evil is a good thing but it will not get you into heaven — only God can do that. And what God requires of us in order that we might be saved and have eternal life is that we believe in Jesus and do what He commands us to do as His disciples.

Faith is not just an intellectual reality — it galvanizes us into action and causes us to become a new creation in Christ. This is the experience of Paul and it is precisely this experience that we hear about again and again in his epistles. It is not a matter of what we can achieve on our own strength but what God has done for us and what He consequently calls us to as His followers.

Jesus is different from other prophets as His life is the path to eternal life (John 14:6). It is a path of obedience — of dying to Himself and living the will of His Father. This is the example He sets out for us and calls us to as His disciples. As He tells Peter at the end of John’s Gospel, it is his faith that will lead and direct him, not his own desires. We need to pray for a level of surrender and obedience to God’s will that none of us have ever truly fathomed yet. If we do fathom it, it is certain that we will become saints.Fr. SteveTynan, MGL

 

Reflection Question:

Do I really seek to do God’s will in my life or do I pay lip-service to this goal and do what I want to do with my life?

 

Jesus, help me to follow Your example and always be open to Your will for my life. Grant me the grace to be obedient to it always.

 

St. Apollo, pray for us.