“I no longer live,
but Christ lives in me”. (Gal 2:20)
The story of the conversion of Saint Paul appears in the Acts of the Apostles on three occasions, with some small differences, depending on the context in which each story is found (9,1-22; 22, 5-16; 26,9- 18). This repetition reveals to us the importance of this event for the development of the nascent Church.
Why did the Lord use a man with these characteristics? Persecutor, zealous law-abiding, from the diaspora, knowledgeable about Hebrew, Greek and Roman culture. How did he manage to convince him? Along the way, knocking him out of all his securities and his particular plans; through a personal encounter, questioning the profound reason for his motivations as a persecutor: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" And how did Paul understand what he had to do? With the help of Ananias and the community. "I have chosen him to carry my name to the Gentiles (the nations), to the kings and to the Israelites" (Acts 9,15).
Conscious of being called and sent by Jesus, Saint Paul shared with all nations what he himself had discovered and experienced: that Christ loved us and gave himself up to death for our salvation, that he rose again to give us the possibility to rise with him, as children of God (1Cor 15,1-11).