Homily For Friday Third Week of Easter Year B, 19th April 2024

Readings: Acts. 9:1-20; Ps.117; John 6:52-59

Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia

 

LORD GIVE US THE GRACE OF ENCOUNTER THAT LEADS TO TRUE CONVERSION

 

Every day is an opportunity to encounter God through different events that occur in our lives. I don't know if you have ever had an experience that made you realize the emptiness of this life, a kind of experience that turns pride into humility, sinfulness into righteousness, an experience that changes your perspective about things or people.

 

This is the kind of experience that Saul had with Jesus in our first reading today, that made him realize the emptiness of his life and how wrong he was, fighting against God’s people. For Saul was a young and zealous Pharisee who was deeply involved in the persecutions of early Christians. He was present at the moment when St. Stephen was martyred and stoned to death. Saul was also a leading figure among the Sanhedrin in their attempt to destroy the Church and the followers of Christ, for he went from place to place and carried out violent attacks against the followers of Christ until he encountered the Lord on his way to Damascus.

 

This very experience brought true conversion in his life and changed his perspective about Christians. This encounter gave him a new identity, changing his name from Saul to Paul. A name indicating his new mission. A mission he so carried out with all his zeal and passion that he is regarded as one of the apostles and today his works still speak about the effect of his encounter with Jesus. 

 

This goes on to affirm the hard teaching of Jesus in our Gospel passage today, where he was talking about having life in him. For himself draws life from the Father, and he said, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you. So whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood will draw life from him. This new life is what Saul experienced when he encountered him and was converted and entrusted with the mission of converting the pagans.

 

Dear friends, as we heard about the conversion of St Paul, we are called to reflect on our conversion. Today like St. Paul, we are called to reflect on our personal experience with God. How have we personally experienced God? When was your spiritual turning point? Do we have a personal conviction about God that is not based on what people told us of him?  Remember that under our baptism, we are called to share in the same mission and call that St. Paul himself had received from the Lord. So, in case we have not personally experienced the Lord, all we need to do is to sincerely seek God in those common events in our lives and we will realize how much God is willing to reveal himself to us.

 

LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, we really need to have a personal encounter with your presence in our lives. As we reflect on the encounter and conversion of St. Paul, may we experience your presence in a unique way and through this experience discover our purpose and mission in life. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Do have a blessed day.