Converted and Convicted

A Reflection on the Second Reading for May 16th, 2021:
The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

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Ephesians
4.1-7, 11-13 (shorter)

(For the longer version, see the print edition of Living with Christ.)

Brothers and sisters: I, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

The gifts he gave were that some would be Apostles, some Prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.
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Pause. Pray.

And then read more...

Anyone feel they live up to Paul’s directive here particularly well? It’s a tall order, and I confess I’ve fallen short of Paul’s charge more often than not.

But so too has Paul! Quite drastically in fact! As “Saul” he was really quite terrifying. 

Saul was a Pharisee of Jewish descent. At the time, the Pharisees believed their oral tradition was handed down to them directly from God through Moses. They worried that lack of clarity in the oral tradition could cause Jews to miss out on achieving right relationship with God. Sadly, their fervor was misdirected and lacking heart. Jesus challenged their interpretations of the oral tradition, fueling Saul’s disdain for the Christian faith and the early church. 

Saul’s convictions led to frightening action. He justified violence to achieve his means through the persecution of Christians, and he despised the disciples: “[B]reathing threats and murder against them.” (Acts 9:1)

If Saul was a passionate person, his conversion was no less dramatic. As he was “going along and approaching Damascus, a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’” (Acts 9:3 - 4) I find Saul’s response to such a question particularly interesting: “Who are you Lord?” Jesus honours his query by responding with His person: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

Despite the drama of what happens next, we don’t hear much in the scriptural account from Paul personally. We only know that this interaction, and the events that followed, affected him completely.

What changes for Paul? In Jesus, Paul not only finds a different way, he experiences a Person, one whose existence and presence revealed to Paul who and what he was intended to be. Moved, Paul repents during a time of blindness, redirects his passion, and finds within himself the vocation to proclaim Christ and His church. 

It is from this posture that Paul urges us to “lead a life worthy of the calling to which we are called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

Paul should know — if anyone has experienced the damage caused by misplaced conviction, he has! But this goes beyond simply treating each other reasonably. Paul also knows firsthand that encountering Jesus Christ makes all the difference (albeit usually less dramatically). His exhortation in Ephesians is specifically intended for the Church and her mission. Paul advises: to succeed in making Christ known — all while being gentle, patient, and humble as we go about our work — we must be unified in proper posture and perspective, converted to and convicted in Christ. We must yield to “grace, according to the measure of Christ’s gift,” and bear each other in love when we fall short. Jesus Christ Himself is absolutely essential for this task. He informs our purpose. 


“He (Jesus) is the one who realizes in Himself what man has the vocation to be: the one who is fully reconciled with the Father, fully one in Himself, fully devoted to others.” 

- Saint John Paul II




​Michelynne Gomez
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