Acts 9:1-20 / John 6:52-59
What we heard in the 1st reading reading is often called the conversion story of St. Paul.
Yes, in many ways it is a conversion story.
Yet, when we think about it, just what did St. Paul convert from.
He wasn't a bad or evil man. In fact he was a good Pharisee, and he wanted to protect his religion.
I would think that what St. Paul went through was a great enlightenment and realization.
On that road to Damascus, he realized that Jesus lives in His followers when he heard the voice saying: I am Jesus, and you are persecuting Me.
For St. Paul, that was an enlightenment and a deep realization as well as a deep experience of Jesus.
In the gospel, Jesus said that whoever eats His body and drinks His blood lives in Him and He lives in that person.
As we partake of the Eucharist, let us ask Jesus to give us a deep realization and an experience that St. Paul had.
Let us ask the Lord to heal and strengthen us with His body and blood so that we too, like St. Paul will go forth and proclaim that Jesus is Lord and Saviour.