| St. Francis de Sales & St. Paul |
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Today is Friday, January 25, 2008. The Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. Yesterday was the Memorial of the St. Francis de Sales. For converts, two fairly important days on the liturgical calendar.
Tomorrow at our church is a Prayer Service celebration the 100th Anniversary call for Christian Unity.
These three days all have a link to my experience as a convert to the Roman Catholic Church. When I was at mass Thursday morning, and Fr. Mark took time to detail the reasons why St. Francis de Sales was canonized (his work in bringing many Calvinists to the Catholic Church), I quickly allowed my mind to think of my reading Introduction to the Devout Life. I thought how useful I have found that book during my neophyte year as a catholic. But my mind quickly came back to Fr. Mark. I was amazed by the volume of work and the courage St. Francis de Sales displayed in bringing Calvinists back to The Church.
There was not better reading for a neophyte during mystogia than St. Francis de Sales. The Spritiual Exercises is a little too advanced. ...
To my neophyte mind, another indespensible St. Francis de Sales book is Finding God's Will For You. Finding God's Will has been useful for discerning ministry vocation
The Conversion of St. Paul on the Road to Damascus has taken on a more dramatic tenor as I was exploring becoming a Catholic. Mostly because I learned the specifics of Paul's anti-Christian witness, literal and figurative. My existence in "Protestantland" only had me aware of Paul as the great letter writer and encourager of Small Christian Communities in the 1st Century. My studies in the last two years brought me face-to-face with the historical fullness of St. Paul and all of the harrowing history of the Church in the first millenium.
Being part of the mob that stoned St. Stephan to death, and then becoming the great convert, evangelist, ecclesial theorist is a great leap for St. Paul. He remains a great example for all us skeptics and converts.
Praying for Christian Unity makes me humble as a catholic. I am reminded that a short time ago I could have been one of that mob... maybe not a stone-thrower, but one of the indifferent onlookers. That knowledge makes me humble and weepy; and hopeful for the on-going conversion as we head to the holy season of Lent. |
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