Together with the Holy Church, on 25/01/2019 we want to celebrate the great feast of the conversion of the greatest evangelist of the pagans: Saint Paul. He was known before as Saul — a powerful man and persecutor of Christians — and he came to be Paul, one of the most lovable disciples of Christ.

God reserved for the Church — gathered as a community after the revelation given to the first Pope, Saint Peter, in the Acts of the Apostles (chapter 11), and after the powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the pagans — that its disciples would be called Christians ONLY AFTER Saul (still bearing that name) had joined them.

"Barnabas then left for Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him he brought him to Antioch. And it happened that they stayed together in that Church a whole year, instructing a large number of people. It was at Antioch that the disciples were first called 'Christians'." (Acts of the Apostles 11:25-26)

Maybe he is one of the biggest reasons we can call ourselves Christians nowadays, with the freedom and grace of a whole civilization that was built upon Christian values, doctrine and blessings. He preached the good news of Our Lord Jesus Christ among every sort of people, and thanks to his life, freely given to God, we have wonderful letters and teachings that are sometimes unknown even to people who call themselves Christians...

Saul was a man full of wisdom, knowledge, power and possessions, and feared by all people. He had everything he wanted as a good man of God, and he was persecuting Christians for the sake of his Lord and God. His life was completely and absolutely changed when he met Jesus. Everything he was, everything he had, everything he once took pleasure in — his entire life — made no sense when compared with Jesus Christ. He even called it all FILTH when compared with Christ! (some translations use an even cruder word)

"Finally, brothers, I wish you joy in the Lord. To write to you what I have already written before is no trouble to me and to you will be a protection. Beware of dogs! Beware of evil workmen! Beware of self-mutilators! We are the true people of the circumcision since we worship by the Spirit of God and make Christ Jesus our only boast, not relying on physical qualifications, although I myself could rely on these too. If anyone does claim to rely on them, my claim is better. Circumcised on the eighth day of my life, I was born of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrew parents. In the matter of the Law, I was a Pharisee; as for religious fervor, I was a persecutor of the Church; as for the uprightness embodied in the Law, I was faultless. But what were once my assets I now through Christ Jesus count as losses. Yes, I will go further: because of the SUPREME ADVANTAGE of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, I count everything else as loss. For him I have accepted the loss of all other things, and look on them all as filth if only I can gain Christ and be given a place in him, with the uprightness I have gained not from the Law, but through faith in Christ, an uprightness from God, based on faith, that I may come to know him and the power of his resurrection, and partake of his sufferings by being molded to the pattern of his death, striving towards the goal of resurrection from the dead. Not that I have secured it already, nor yet reached my goal, but I am still pursuing it in the attempt to take hold of the prize for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not reckon myself as having taken hold of it; I can only say that forgetting all that lies behind me, and straining forward to what lies in front, I am racing towards the finishing-point to win the prize of God's heavenly call in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:1-14)

Some people would say he became crazy, that he was out of his mind, that this was just for a brief moment, that no one could bear such words, that at the first suffering he would change his mind, that his life was very blessed and that is why he would say such beautiful words...

From persecutor he became persecuted, and from a glorious and luxurious life he gained sufferings, pain and crosses — day and night. Not for only one day, one week, one month or one year, but for the rest of his life. MANY AND MANY YEARS OF SUFFERING FOR CHRIST!!

When writing to his brothers in faith, the Corinthians (and today to us), he was speaking about not boasting in oneself and being examples to be followed, since there were false Christians among them. Let us learn from him and see whether he had the authority to write:

"Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I speak in utter folly -- I am too, and more than they are: I have done more work, I have been in prison more, I have been flogged more severely, many times exposed to death. Five times I have been given the thirty-nine lashes by the Jews; three times I have been beaten with sticks; once I was stoned; three times I have been shipwrecked, and once I have been in the open sea for a night and a day; continually travelling, I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from brigands, in danger from my own people and in danger from the gentiles, in danger in the towns and in danger in the open country, in danger at sea and in danger from people masquerading as brothers; I have worked with unsparing energy, for many nights without sleep; I have been hungry and thirsty, and often altogether without food or drink; I have been cold and lacked clothing. And, besides all the external things, there is, day in day out, the pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches." (2 Corinthians 11:22-28)

What made him bear all things? What was his motivation? Glory and boasting? I don't think so, for his boasting was in the cross of Christ, on which he says he was crucified with Christ (Galatians 6:14). Was it any human gift he relied on? Praise, supernatural powers? I don't think so, for he had a thorn in the flesh, a messenger from Satan to batter him; and even though he pleaded three times with the Lord, Jesus didn't take the thorn from his flesh (2 Corinthians 12:8).

Was it any human recognition? I don't think so, for he was left apart and the disciples didn't even know he existed. Only after three years did he come to meet Peter (Galatians 1:18). Was it money and material goods? I don't think so, for he had to learn to live with or without food and drink (Philippians 4:12). Was he mad or sad for living amid so much suffering? I don't think so, for he was happy to suffer and to offer his sufferings, filling up in his flesh what was lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of his Body, the Church (Colossians 1:24).

What was it, then?

One meeting that completely changed his life! One moment that changed the destiny of his every day on earth and his eternity in Heaven! One single word he heard from the mouth of Christ that changed him and transformed him into a new creation...

"For the love of Christ overwhelms us when we consider that if one man died for all, then all have died; his purpose in dying for all humanity was that those who live should live not any more for themselves, but for him who died and was raised to life. From now onwards, then, we will not consider anyone by human standards: even if we were once familiar with Christ according to human standards, we do not know him in that way any longer. So, for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation: the old order is gone and a new being is there to see." (2 Corinthians 5:14-17)

After reading these words and reflecting on Saint Paul's life, and coming to the central point of this formation today, we need to answer the following question: WHY DOES THE LOVE OF CHRIST NOT OVERWHELM US?

There are millions and millions of people all over the world who call themselves Christians. But, whether by a rotten tradition or by a lack of formation or a lack of seeking, they don't know that being a Christian actually means being Christ — being another Christ! It means to live, love and go through life as the Lord Jesus Christ did... or at least to try!

As Catholics we have 2000 years of the Church's history, the blood of martyrs shed; we have thousands of saints and communion with countless angels and heavenly hosts on our side; we have the presence of the leader of the armies of the Lord — the Virgin Mary; we have communion with the Church Militant (on Earth), the Church Suffering (in Purgatory) and the Church Triumphant (in Heaven); we have priests, we have the seven sacraments, we have the whole Word of God in the 73 books of the Bible, the whole revelation of God to humanity through Christ — and yet, even with all of that, many of us do not know Christ!

I am not talking about a superficial acknowledgement of the historical Christ who came to Earth, lived, loved, died and rose on the third day — because nearly everywhere on Earth the name of Christ has been pronounced (though perhaps not announced). I am talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour of humanity, the one who went ahead of us to open and prepare a place for us in the glory of Heaven with God the Father, the one who made himself the Eucharist, the one who is our friend and wants to call us friends, as he called the apostles.

"I shall no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know the master's business; I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father." (John 15:15)

Can Jesus call you and me his friends? That is, has he made known to us the secrets of the Father's heart? Have we learned anything from Jesus as a person? Sadly and unfortunately, if we are sincere, we have to answer no.

No, because many of us have only heard about Jesus but have never met him personally as Saint Paul did, to the point of falling from our pride and glory! We have never looked at Jesus as Saint Paul did, to the point of becoming blind — blind to the world and its attractions! We have never heard his voice as Saint Paul did, to the point of becoming deaf to worldly voices...

And, finally, no — because we have never felt the love of Christ to the point that Saint Paul did, whose efforts day and night were to reveal this love...

"This, then, is what I pray, kneeling before the Father, from whom every fatherhood, in heaven or on earth, takes its name. In the abundance of his glory may he, through his Spirit, enable you to grow firm in power with regard to your inner self, so that Christ may live in your hearts through faith, and then, planted in love and built on love with all God's holy people you will have the strength to GRASP THE BREADTH AND THE LENGTH, THE HEIGHT AND THE DEPTH; so that, knowing the love of Christ, which is beyond knowledge, you may be filled with the utter fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:14-19)

We are no more than shallow and superficial Christians — no more than that! We do not have the courage to become friends with Christ — if needed, like Zacchaeus, who climbed to the top of the tree to see the Lord, or like Nicodemus, who went to meet Christ by night, hidden from his friends...

The love of Christ doesn't overwhelm us because we are unaware of this love: we have never felt it, we have never heard of it, we have never seen this love, we have never touched it... Oh, if only we had the same longing as Thomas, who wanted to see and touch Christ's wounds in order to believe.

Where is our will, our desire? Are we too attached to material things, to worldly things, to pleasures, to people, to positions, to money, to our own security?

Perhaps the best thing you will read today is this: forget about everything for one brief minute and ask Jesus Christ to show himself to you! Ask him insistently until he reveals his love and shows you this breadth and length, height and depth of his love that Saint Paul speaks of!

Ask the Lord to come into your life and be your friend... Tell him from the bottom of your heart that you miss his presence, his grace, the fire of his love to guide your decisions and everything in your life... Ask Christ to inflame and set your heart on fire at this very moment, while you read these words... Stop if necessary and have your own moment of intimacy with Christ! That is enough!!!

"In fact, through the Law I am dead to the Law so that I can be alive to God. I have been crucified with Christ and yet I am alive; yet it is no longer I, but Christ living in me. The life that I am now living, subject to the limitation of human nature, I am living in faith, faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:19-20)

Theologians and people who have studied the Sacred Scriptures deeply reveal that Saint Paul had something truly supernatural: even in the midst of all the suffering and pain he went through, his worry, day in and day out, was his anxiety for the well-being of the Church as a whole. That is why they said his heart became the heart of Christ...

I pray that, through this formation and his intercession, Christ may reveal his heart to each one of us!

God bless you, and may the love of Christ begin — or come back — to overwhelm us!