Jan
25
Our Road to Damascus
January 25, 2008 |
Lots of great things happen on New Testament roads. The Road to Jericho brings the Good Samaritan. The Road to Emmaus brings the first encounter with Christ resurrected. The Road to Damascus brings the Conversion of St. Paul - the feast of which we celebrate today.
Imagine that you are doing something in your life that you have made your life-purpose - your reason for existence - and you do it zealously well. Now imagine that, in literally a flash, Christ appears to you and lets it be known that you have had it all wrong - that you are on the wrong path and he wants you to get on the right path - without hesitation - without looking back.
What would we do?
I think the answer is quite easy - we would immediately change our ways and get on the right path with Christ. But what if Christ is being more subtle with us than he was with St. Paul?
In a way, St. Paul was lucky - he was a very smart man but it didn’t take a genius to figure out that Christ was speaking directly to him. Understanding Christ’s will was the easy part for St. Paul - executing Christ’s plan for him was what would take every ounce of his tremendous spiritual strength.
For us, the hard part may be trying to recognize Christ in our lives - and trying to figure out what he wants from us. He may not appear to us in a flash of light, blinding us, directly speaking to us. He may be subtle - guiding our lives with a soft hand. And, it is up to us to grow so in-tune with Christ that we recognize his guidance of our lives.
Before Damascus, Saul was not in-tune with Christ. After Damascus, St. Paul became so close to Christ that he became one of the fundamental bedrocks of the Church - and remains so today.
If we are on our own Road to Damascus - and we all are at some point in our lives - we need to ensure that we are listening and watching for Christ. He will tell us what we are to do with our lives. Even if we are screwing up left and right, and our lives are misguided and pointless, Christ will find a way to bring us back to his road - his path. He did it with St. Paul - he will do it with us.
We just need to keep listening.
Painting: The Conversion on the Way to Damascus - Caravaggio (Italy, 1573-1610)
