And as he went on his journey, it came to pass that he drew nigh to Damascus; and suddenly a light from heaven shined round about him. And falling on the ground, he heard a voice saying to him: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Who said: Who art thou, Lord? And he: I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the goad. And he trembling and astonished, said: Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
A sermon on this by St Bernard. Which I haven’t read more than a few lines of yet, but one presumes it can’t be bad. ‘In hac enim memoria et peccator spem veniae concipit, ut provocetur ad poenitentiam; et qui jam poenitet, perfectae conversionis accipit formam. Quis desperet ultra pro magnitudine cujuslibet criminis, quandoquidem Saulum audiat adhuc spirantem minarum et caedis in discipulos Domini, subito factum vas electionis? Quis dicat iniquitatis pondere pressus: Assurgere jam ad studia meliora non valeo; quando in ipso itinere, quo sanguinem sitiens Christianum, dirum toto pectore virus efflabat, persecutor crudelissimus in fidelissimum repente mutatus est praedicatorem? Magnifice siquidem in hac una conversione et misericordiae magnitudo, et efficacia gratiae commendatur….’
(rough rendering by Berenike:) In the commemoration of this event the sinner sees the hope of conversion, that he might be provoked to penitence, and he who has already repented is given the example of perfect conversion. Who could continue to despair because of the greatness of his sin, when he hears of Saul, who had till now breathed menaces and death to the disciples of the Lord, being made all at once a vessel of election? Who should say, weighed down with wickedness, “I am not able to rise now to a better way of life”, when the cruellest of persecutors was suddenly turned into the most faithful of preachers on that very journey on which, thirsting for the blood of Christians, vile poison breathed from his every breath?
(picture added by me from Vultus Christi, who also writes about the conversion of St Paul)
