Lesson from Fr. Paulus |Transformation in Christ Takes Time

All of us are here today because we love Jesus Christ and we want to follow him more and more closely. In other words, there is still a gap between the kind of Catholic we would like to be, and the kind of Catholic we actually are.

We know that a follower of Christ should be patient, self-controlled, faithful, generous, and kind. And we also know that although we follow that recipe sometimes, many other times we don't. In the face of this contrast between the desire of our hearts and the reality of our daily lives, we can be tempted to frustration.

But today the Church is giving us an antidote to that frustration in the example of St Paul. In today's First Reading, St Paul shows up in Jerusalem three years after his dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus. He has been believing in and following Christ for three years already. And yet, he arrives in Jerusalem, and what happens?

His bold and abrasive personality gets him in trouble right away. He shows up full of faith and love for Christ, overflowing with zeal and sincerity. But his old violent and intimidating temperament hasn't gone away.

In a matter of days, he instills deep fear in the Christians, and he infuriates the Jews so much that they start plotting to kill him! Things are so bad, in fact, that he has to be sent away to Tarsus, his home town, 500 miles away! And notice what happens as soon as he's gone; St Luke writes: "The Church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria was at peace."

The great St Paul didn't become a saint overnight - it took time for God's grace to transform him, and it takes time for God's grace to transform us, too.

Doing Our Part through Daily Prayer

We are all like St Paul, full of rough edges that God is gradually polishing down. If we become impatient, we will only get in his way, and we may even give up on him altogether. But being patient doesn't mean we just sit around and twiddle our thumbs.

Jesus makes it clear in today's Gospel that we have to do our part in order for our lives to bear the fruit he wants them to bear. And one key way to do that is prayer.

Prayer is a great privilege. The Lord of the universe, our Creator and Redeemer, is online 24/7, always watching over us and listening for when we call out to him. Whenever we send him a message, he reads it right away and answers by sending an attachment of grace into our hearts.

Daily, personal prayer is the bridge that turns our Catholic talk into a powerful Catholic walk. Daily, personal prayer is the heart of our relationship with Christ, a bridge that links our knowledge of Jesus with our day-to-day actions. Jesus passionately wants us to become mature men and women of prayer.

This is really what he means when he says in today's Gospel: "I am the vine and you are the branches... Remain in me... because without me you can do nothing."

Today, let's ask ourselves what we can do to improve our prayer life this week: Maybe it's taking a few minutes to pray a decade or two of the Rosary while we're driving to work. Maybe it's getting up ten minutes earlier so as to be able to spend some quiet time alone with God before the hustle and bustle sweeps us away.

During this Mass, through the sacrifice of the Eucharist, Jesus, the vine, will renew his commitment to transform our lives, as he transformed St Paul's. When he does, let's renew our commitment to be faithful branches, by making prayer a real priority.