It is the greatest conversion of all time. 

St. Stephen, The Martyr is being stoned to death, it is the Jewish Leader, Saul, who orchestrates and supervises his execution, as attackers lay their cloaks at Saul’s feet before killing Stephan. 

Brilliant, loyal, and viciously dedicated to the task of wiping out the remnants of the movement Jesus started, referred to as “The Way”, Saul has no problem with violence as a means to end Christianity. 

And Jesus’ Apostles and Disciples have every reason to fear him. 

Today in Acts, we hear from Paul himself, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus, educated strictly in our Ancestral law and zealous for God. I persecuted this way to death, binding both men and women, delivering them to prison, and set out for Damascus to bring back to Jerusalem, in chains for punishment, those there as well.” 

That journey, of course, will be the turning point, not just for Saul but for millions of Christians, down through the centuries, who will come to know Christ through this conversion. 

On that journey as I drew near to Damascus, at about noon a great light from the sky suddenly shone around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ 

I replied, ‘Who are you, sir?’ 

And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazorean whom you are persecuting” 

I asked, ‘What shall I do, sir?’ The Lord answered me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus”. 

Meanwhile, The Lord also appears to Ananias and tells him to go lay his hands on Saul to heal him. 

Overcoming his fear, which he expresses to The Lord, he does this. 

‘Saul, my brother, The Lord has sent me; Jesus, Who appeared to you. That you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ 

He changed his name to Paul, gained the trust of Jesus’ Apostles and Disciples, and began an epic evangelization, traveling 10 thousand miles and writing nearly half of the Books in the New Testament, and his evangelization continues to this day. 

St. Paul, please pray for us.