Feast of the Conversion of St Paul, Apostle

St. Paul, named Saul at his circumcision, a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, was born at Tarsus, the capitol of Cilicia. He was a Roman citizen. He was brought up as a strict Jew, and later became a violent persecutor of the Christians. While on his way to Damascus to make new arrests of Christians, he was suddenly converted by a miraculous apparition of Our Lord. From a fierce persecutor he became the great Apostle of the Gentiles. He made three missionary journeys which brought him to the great centres of Asia Minor and southern Europe, and made many converts. Fourteen of his Epistles are found in the New Testament. He was beheaded in Rome around 66 A.D., and his relics are in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls near the Ostian Way. 

There are two choices for the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles.  The first choice (Acts 22:3-16) Paul gives his own account of his experience on the road to Damascus while in the second choice (Acts 9: 1-22) the account is given by the author of the Acts.  In both accounts we hear the words of Jesus identifying himself with his followers “I am Jesus and you are persecuting me.” In the Gospel (Mark 16:15-18) we hear of Jesus’ commission to his disciples “Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation.”