St. Paul had such an extraordinary experience in meeting Jesus because he was such an extraordinarily stubborn man! But the old saying is absolutely true: "the bigger they are, the harder they fall;" and when they rise again, they are a completely new creation! Saul, as he was known then, thought he was doing the right thing: persecuting this young upstart of a religious sect which followed a young, crucified and now supposedly resurrected carpenter turned rabbi: Jesus of Nazareth. Saul was a stalwart Jew, an educated man in the law of Moses: this blasphemous outrage of one claiming to be God's Son – and now proclaimed and preached as still alive by this traitorous group of rag-tag followers – had to be stopped once and for all.
But it was actually he who was destined to be stopped once and for all. And in a dramatic sort of way: (the bigger they are, the harder they fall); Saul, on his way to Damascus to persecute the disciples of Christ saw very plainly and distinctly the very LIGHT WHICH IS CHRIST JESUS! And he became physically blinded by it and was unable to see until God deemed it the right time. With the LIGHT came the VOICE that said: Saul, Saul why are you persecuting ME? Saul was persecuting Christians, but the voice said ME!
The reason Jesus said this is because of the reality given in the gospel passage: Jesus is the Vine, and his Father is the Vine grower. Just as branches of a vine cannot exist apart from the vine, can disciples of Jesus exist apart from him. And they did exist in him! And so, if the branch is persecuted, then the vine is persecuted; the "ME" Jesus was speaking about! Now, if you say you are a disciple, as St. John relates in the second reading, a branch of his vine, then you BELIEVE in him, and LOVE as he commanded: self-sacrificially, with acts of usefulness and helpfulness to all in need – even those who persecute you.
Now, the Father also prunes the vine, making the fruit-bearing more fruitful, cutting off the decaying and the withered to be burned. The Father here then is pruning Saul. He has deemed him worthy, even in his misguided zeal, to be an instrument in his hands for the conversion of the Gentiles – and so now he stops him in his tracks, gives him an ample period of darkness and powerlessness so that he can think things over and get his facts straight before sending him off on his way as one of the full-fledged, even super-Apostles – with a ranking right up there with St. Peter, the rock on which the Church is built.
The message today is that God has a plan for every one of us. Last week we called it a vocation. It is perfectly suited for us. And sometimes he has to take some pretty drastic measures to get our attention, and aim us in the right direction in order to discover it. But if, like Saul, we cooperate with grace, with light, with the new incoming information: when it comes – we will be, filled with the Spirit and sent on our way to make a difference in the world around us: to make it what it ought to be and can be!
More than ever it appears that "the world" is changing into something that is oftentimes unpleasantly "unrecognizable." But the one, true, stable, never-changing, always reliable, steady, promised, safe and protective reality that we can count on day in and day out, night in and night out is God's love for those who love Him, God's delight in those who "love" others, God's friendship for those who "friend" others; God's healing, calm and mercy for those who bring healing, calm and mercy to others: very much like our mother's did and do for us – no matter where they now are. We can count on the Catholic Church to nurture, mother and love us through it all!
Happy Mother's Day! Happy Day as a Branch on the Vine that is Jesus! Happy Day of Life for all those committed to and defensive of life as God gives it and intends it to be lived!
God bless you!
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