St. Paul's conversion: A Triumph Over the Enemy
<http://www.newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume2/sermon9.html>http://www.newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume2/sermon9.html
St. Paul's conversion memorable; that it was a
triumph over the enemy. When Almighty God would
convert the world, opening the door of faith to
the Gentiles, who was the chosen preacher of His
mercy? Not one of Christ's first followers. To
show His power, He put forth His hand into the
very midst of the persecutors of His Son, and
seized upon the most strenuous among them. The
prayer of a dying man is the token and occasion
of that triumph which He had reserved for
Himself. His strength is made perfect in weakness.
As of old, He broke the yoke of His people's
burden, the staff of their shoulder, the rod of
their oppressor [Isa. ix. 4.]. Saul made
furiously for Damascus, but the Lord Almighty
"knew his abode, and his going out and coming in,
and his rage against Him;" and "because his rage
against Him, and his tumult, came up before Him,"
therefore, as in Sennacherib's case, though in a
far different way, He "put His hook in his nose,
and His bridle in his lips, and turned him back
by the way by which he came." [Isa. xxxvii. 28,
29.] He "spoiled principalities and powers, and
made a show of them openly," [Col. ii. 15.]
triumphing over the serpent's head while his heel
was wounded. Saul, the persecutor, was converted,
and preached Christ in the synagogues.
2. In the next place, St. Paul's conversion may
be considered as a suitable introduction to the
office he was called to execute in God's
providence. I have said it was a triumph over the
enemies of Christ; but it was also an expressive
emblem of the nature of {98} God's general
dealings with the race of man. What are we all
but rebels against God, and enemies of the Truth?
what were the Gentiles in particular at that
time, but "alienated" from Him, "and enemies in
their mind by wicked works?" [Col. i. 21.] Who
then could so appropriately fulfil the purpose of
Him who came to call sinners to repentance, as
one who esteemed himself the least of the
Apostles, that was not meet to be called an
Apostle, because he had persecuted the Church of
God? When Almighty God in His infinite mercy
purposed to form a people to Himself out of the
heathen, as vessels for glory, first He chose the
instrument of this His purpose as a brand from
the burning, to be a type of the rest.
There is a parallel to this order of Providence
in the Old Testament. The Jews were bid to look
unto the rock whence they were hewn [Isa. li.
1.]. Who was the especial Patriarch of their
nation?Jacob. Abraham himself, indeed, had been
called and blessed by God's mere grace. Yet
Abraham had remarkable faith. Jacob, however, the
immediate and peculiar Patriarch of the Jewish
race, is represented in the character of a
sinner, pardoned and reclaimed by Divine mercy, a
wanderer exalted to be the father of a great nation.
Now I am not venturing to describe him as he
really was, but as he is represented to us; not
personally, but in that particular point of view
in which the sacred history has placed him; not
as an individual, but as he is typically, or in
the way of doctrine. There is no mistaking the
marks of his character and fortunes in the
history, designedly {99} (as it would seem)
recorded to humble Jewish pride. He makes his own
confession, as St. Paul afterwards: "I am not
worthy of the least of all Thy mercies." [Gen.
xxxii. 10.] Every year, too, the Israelites were
bid to bring their offering, and avow before God,
that "a Syrian ready to perish was their father."
[Deut. xxvi. 5.] Such as was the father, such (it
was reasonable to suppose) would be the
descendants. None would be "greater than their
father Jacob," [John iv. 12.] for whose sake the nation was blest.
In like manner St. Paul is, in one way of viewing
the Dispensation, the spiritual father of the
Gentiles; and in the history of his sin and its
most gracious forgiveness, he exemplifies far
more than his brother Apostles his own Gospel;
that we are all guilty before God, and can be
saved only by His free bounty. In his own words,
"for this cause obtained he mercy, that in him
first Jesus Christ might show forth all
long-suffering, for a pattern to them which
should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting." [1 Tim. i. 16.]
Cardinal John Henry Newman
Excerpted from:
Sermon 9. St. Paul's Conversion Viewed in reference to His Office
<*}}}><
<http://halfthekingdom.mofuse.mobi/>Half the Kingdom! on your Mobile <*}}}><
<*}}}><
<http://www.halfthekingdom.org/wordpress/>Half the Kingdom! Blog <*}}}><
<*}}}>< <http://www.halfthekingdom.org/>Half the
Kingdom! Main Site <*}}}>< <*}}}><
<http://www.halfthekingdom.org/by-the-by/>Half the Kingdom! By the by <*}}}><
Lord, may everything we do begin with Your
inspiration and continue with Your help,
so that all our prayers and works may begin in You and by You be happily ended.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
Please note that I do not send or open attachments sent to this list.
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Catholics on Fire" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/Catholics-on-Fire
May the blessing of Jesus and our Blessed Mother be with you
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
