January 24, 2009

A Taste of Easter

During this year of St. Paul, celebrating the bimillenium of the Apostle's birth, the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has granted permission to celebrate the feast of the Conversion of Paul in place of the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time. The transformation of Saul of Tarsus into St. Paul the Apostle is one of the great moments in the history of Christianity, illustrating the power of the Lord's Resurrection to transform lives. My homily for this weekend is posted here.

2 comments:

for narnia said...

very inspiring homily for the Conversion of St. Paul. i like that this feast day in the middle of winter gives us a "taste of Easter," as you say in your homily. and, "praying for our own conversion and transformation," as you also mention, is very important. so, it's really important to spend quality time in prayer and to be really open to the Holy Spirit, so that God can transform us to become His "missionaries sent out to help bring peace and renewal to the world." i think that what we have to keep in mind is that we can do this in whatever state of life we are in, whether it's as a priest or religious; a single person; married people; etc... and we are capable of bringining peace and renewal right where we are: at church; work; home; school, etc... you're right, too, Fr. C, in saying that we can lift ourselves out of things that bring us down. sometimes for me, it's depression, particularly this time of year - but i think it's more of a seasonal thing for me because i'm able to find ways of keeping myself above it, which comes from being firmly rooted in our faith and having trust in God. there's a great quote i'd like to share from St. Francis De Sales, whose feast we celebrated this morning: "God has not placed perfection in the simplicity of acts that we do to please God, but only in the way we do them, which is simply to do the little we do according to our vocation, in love, by love, for love."~St. Francis De Sales~ PEACE!
~tara t~

Anonymous said...

We even had the Conversion of St. Paul in the extraordinary form instead of the 3rd Sunday after the Epiphany. It was great!