The Conversion of St. Paul, the Conversion Constant, C2 and the upcoming Year of St. Paul
J.M.J. + O.B.T. + M.G.R.*
Light->Life->Love...just a quick lesson on how the great evangelist went from Christ persecutor (by definition, anti-Christ) to Apostle to the Gentiles par excellence.
Pay particular attention to the procession...unexpected Heavenly Light, new Life in the Spirit, abiding Love in Christ even to the shedding of his own blood.
Pay particular attention to the procession...unexpected Heavenly Light, new Life in the Spirit, abiding Love in Christ even to the shedding of his own blood.
The conversion constant is Light, for without the higher power of Light, i.e., Supernatural Light, there is no source for a Life-changing encounter with the Living Christ. The Holy Spirit is the bringer of Light and the Lord and Giver of Life for He is the Love between the Father and the Son. The term C2 celeritas is an analogy, a way to appreciate the fundamental relationship between humanity (created mass) and supernatural infused Light that leads to the release of Spiritual Energy (Divine Action working through, with and in Jesus, the Son of man.)
Saul—dead-set on destroying the Way—was on the road to Damascus with a written commission to fulfill the role of an anti-Christ.
Being a devout Jew, Saul might have been praying for strength, praying to YHVH. He might have even felt a bit like Moses, for at the time he was traveling much the same way as the patriarch did, to deal out justice to the enemies of his people in order to set them free from error. Might he have been “climbing a mountain” spiritually as his mind focused more intently upon executing the mandates of the Law? Was he himself in a deadly spiral like his namesake King Saul, on a similar path toward vengeful ruin?
The Mystical City of God, the writings of Venerable Mary of Agreda tell us that the Blessed Virgin Mary was prostrate in prayer for she was pleading for deliverance from the impending scourge. She was imploring God to move Saul’s soul to the Truth of her Son.
God heard Mary. He sent a blinding Light earthward to strike the pride of Saul “right between the eyes (I’s?) and render him a lump of clay to be reformed in Christ’s image and likeness.
By knocking him to the ground, God set Saul into a receptive posture. He then was able to speak to his soul, Jesus asking the question "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?" Acts 9:4
Let’s stop here and recap.
Saul was of sound mind and body, and he had a willing heart for the fulfillment of the Law. On the natural level he had all the makings of a born leader and might have had a highly successful career in law, politics or as a soldier (and potentially king?)
But God had other plans for this New Testament, second Saul of the bible...supernatural plans.
Supernatural Light was needed and it was provided first. Darkness was imposed with the blinding of Saul's sense of sight. He was placed in a humble state of submission to the Will of God. From this perceptive-receptive posture, he was able to hear the voice of God, the direct words of Jesus that spoke to his soul, infused in such a way that they could not be denied. The only way to respond to such an intimate encounter with the Almighty is to be reflective, that is to give back to God in thankful prayer a life of service to others, radiating His Truth to the world.
Saul remained blinded until he began to straighten out his life on Straight Street, Damascus. This new life in the Spirit was offered through the instrumentality of Ananias who taught Saul the lesson of uncommon and unconditional Love that Christians are called to witness to, to die for. This Supernatural Life is what Jesus offered to the Father for our redemption during the imposed darkness at the 3 o'clock hour on Mt. Calvary. Do we now see the profound interaction between Light and Darkness, between Life and Death? They are intimately linked in God's plan. They harken back to the dawn of Creation.
We all know the story of St. Paul's missionary journeys, the great race to the end, a life of love which led to his eventual martyrdom in Rome. This Supernatural Love is best evidenced by his own confession. "It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me." Galations 2:20 This is not only an admission of human life abiding in superhuman life. No, it is also humble acknowledgement that the LOVE that others see in St. Paul’s acts of courageous witness to the TRUTH is none other than the LOVE of the Divine Savior pouring through the veins of a humble, willing servant. It is submission, a fiat, not unlike the Blessed Mother's "Be it done unto me according to Thy will."
Light, Life and Love are a Trinitarian pattern, a three-ring reality that brings us right to the heart of the matter. They are the revealed essence of personal relationships within the Triune God, the Father, His only begotten Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is through Light, Life and Love, that God relates Himself to created humanity.
Light, Life and Love are therefore Haloed Words. They are Super-essential Words that are not to be divided, manipulated or misused...they are absolute because they flow from the Absolute Being, the Supreme Being, the Triune God…Pure unapproachable Light, The Way the Truth and the Life and the Love that gave up His Body, commended His Spirit to the Father and died for our sins.
Early in his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI used powerful imagery in describing the Christian witness needed in the New Evangelization of this Third Christian Millennium. In a homily to a huge mass of assembled youth at Marienfeld, Cologne during 2005 WYD he teaches us:
What is happening? How can Jesus distribute his Body and his Blood?
Saul—dead-set on destroying the Way—was on the road to Damascus with a written commission to fulfill the role of an anti-Christ.
Being a devout Jew, Saul might have been praying for strength, praying to YHVH. He might have even felt a bit like Moses, for at the time he was traveling much the same way as the patriarch did, to deal out justice to the enemies of his people in order to set them free from error. Might he have been “climbing a mountain” spiritually as his mind focused more intently upon executing the mandates of the Law? Was he himself in a deadly spiral like his namesake King Saul, on a similar path toward vengeful ruin?
The Mystical City of God, the writings of Venerable Mary of Agreda tell us that the Blessed Virgin Mary was prostrate in prayer for she was pleading for deliverance from the impending scourge. She was imploring God to move Saul’s soul to the Truth of her Son.
God heard Mary. He sent a blinding Light earthward to strike the pride of Saul “right between the eyes (I’s?) and render him a lump of clay to be reformed in Christ’s image and likeness.
By knocking him to the ground, God set Saul into a receptive posture. He then was able to speak to his soul, Jesus asking the question "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?" Acts 9:4
Let’s stop here and recap.
Saul was of sound mind and body, and he had a willing heart for the fulfillment of the Law. On the natural level he had all the makings of a born leader and might have had a highly successful career in law, politics or as a soldier (and potentially king?)
But God had other plans for this New Testament, second Saul of the bible...supernatural plans.
Supernatural Light was needed and it was provided first. Darkness was imposed with the blinding of Saul's sense of sight. He was placed in a humble state of submission to the Will of God. From this perceptive-receptive posture, he was able to hear the voice of God, the direct words of Jesus that spoke to his soul, infused in such a way that they could not be denied. The only way to respond to such an intimate encounter with the Almighty is to be reflective, that is to give back to God in thankful prayer a life of service to others, radiating His Truth to the world.
Saul remained blinded until he began to straighten out his life on Straight Street, Damascus. This new life in the Spirit was offered through the instrumentality of Ananias who taught Saul the lesson of uncommon and unconditional Love that Christians are called to witness to, to die for. This Supernatural Life is what Jesus offered to the Father for our redemption during the imposed darkness at the 3 o'clock hour on Mt. Calvary. Do we now see the profound interaction between Light and Darkness, between Life and Death? They are intimately linked in God's plan. They harken back to the dawn of Creation.
We all know the story of St. Paul's missionary journeys, the great race to the end, a life of love which led to his eventual martyrdom in Rome. This Supernatural Love is best evidenced by his own confession. "It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me." Galations 2:20 This is not only an admission of human life abiding in superhuman life. No, it is also humble acknowledgement that the LOVE that others see in St. Paul’s acts of courageous witness to the TRUTH is none other than the LOVE of the Divine Savior pouring through the veins of a humble, willing servant. It is submission, a fiat, not unlike the Blessed Mother's "Be it done unto me according to Thy will."
Light, Life and Love are a Trinitarian pattern, a three-ring reality that brings us right to the heart of the matter. They are the revealed essence of personal relationships within the Triune God, the Father, His only begotten Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is through Light, Life and Love, that God relates Himself to created humanity.
Light, Life and Love are therefore Haloed Words. They are Super-essential Words that are not to be divided, manipulated or misused...they are absolute because they flow from the Absolute Being, the Supreme Being, the Triune God…Pure unapproachable Light, The Way the Truth and the Life and the Love that gave up His Body, commended His Spirit to the Father and died for our sins.
Early in his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI used powerful imagery in describing the Christian witness needed in the New Evangelization of this Third Christian Millennium. In a homily to a huge mass of assembled youth at Marienfeld, Cologne during 2005 WYD he teaches us:
What is happening? How can Jesus distribute his Body and his Blood?
By making the bread into his Body and the wine into his Blood, he anticipates his death, he accepts it in his heart, and he transforms it into an action of love. What on the outside is simply brutal violence - the Crucifixion - from within becomes an act of total self-giving love. This is the substantial transformation (((conversion))) which was accomplished at the Last Supper and was destined to set in motion a series of transformations leading ultimately to the transformation of the world when God will be all in all (cf. I Cor 15: 28).
In their hearts, people always and everywhere have somehow expected a change, a transformation (((conversion))) of the world. Here now is the central act of transformation that alone can truly renew the world: violence is transformed into love, and death into life.
Since this act transmutes death into love, death as such is already conquered from within, the Resurrection is already present in it. Death is, so to speak, mortally wounded, so that it can no longer have the last word.
To use an image well known to us today, this is like inducing nuclear fission (((I might have chosen the word fusion))) in the very heart of being - the victory of love over hatred, the victory of love over death. Only this intimate explosion of good conquering evil can then trigger off the series of transformations that little by little will change the world.
In Deus Caritas Est he explains it thus:
In Deus Caritas Est he explains it thus:
“The Church cannot and must not take upon herself the political battle to bring about the most just society possible. She cannot and must not replace the State. Yet at the same time she cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice. She has to play her part through rational argument and she has to reawaken the spiritual energy without which justice, which always demands sacrifice, cannot prevail and prosper. A just society must be the achievement of politics, not of the Church. Yet the promotion of justice through efforts to bring about openness of mind and will to the demands of the common good is something which concerns the Church deeply.”
The Holy Father’s closing prayer of this encyclical echoes the pattern of Light, Life and Love:
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
you have given the world its true light,
Jesus, your Son – the Son of God.
You abandoned yourself (((your Life)))
completely to God's call
and thus became a wellspring of the goodness
which flows forth from him.
Show us Jesus. Lead us to him.
Teach us to know and love him,
so that we too can become
capable of true love
and be fountains of living water
in the midst of a thirsting world.
ZE07062810 - 2007-06-28
Pope Kicks Off Year of St. Paul
Will Have Ecumenical Dimension
Pope Kicks Off Year of St. Paul
Will Have Ecumenical Dimension
VATICAN CITY, JUNE 28, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI has declared June 2008-June 2009 the year of St. Paul in celebration of the 2,000th anniversary of the saint's birth.The Pope decreed the year in a vespers celebration held today at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.The Holy Father explained during his homily: "This 'Pauline Year' will take place in a special way in Rome, where for 2,000 years under the papal altar of this basilica, lies the tomb that according to experts and undisputed tradition has conserved the remains of the apostle Paul."
Sincerely yours in Jesus and Mary,
Mike Rizzio, SOLT
Imitate Mary
Become like Jesus
Live for the Triune God
Seek the Light of Our Lord Jesus Christ
See you on the High Ground!
If you have a few minutes please go to the following sites
and see what I have been compelled to work on since 2004.
http://soltlaity.org/breadoflife.htm
http://soltlaity.org/slideshow.htm
I will attempt to answer any and all inquiries at jmjriz@aol.com.
+++
* - J.M.J. + O.B.T. + M.G.R. stands for: Jesus, Mary and Joseph;
O Beata Trinitas; St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael
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