Why did God choose Paul? After all, Paul did everything he could to stop the message of Jesus from spreading. He killed, harmed, and imprisoned followers of Jesus. He was downright ruthless. I suppose the simple answer is because this was God’s will. However, is there more to the story?
Most Christians know the story of Paul to one degree of another. Saul (soon to be Paul) persecuted the early fledgling church and Jesus Christ came into his life with a huge force. What followed was likely the biggest conversion story of all time. After his conversion Paul (no longer Saul) spent his life serving Christ and preaching his word with the intensity of a world class athlete. Lucky for us his writings to the Hebrews, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, Timothy, and others were preserved and written down. We are indeed indebted to St. Paul.
One Promise
There is one promise we can hold on to in this life of ours. We can hold on to the fact that our Triune God is forever faithful, present, and patient. God is in charge and he has things under control. I know there are times in our life when it looks like things are out of control. However, God is very much in control.
Why the chaos? Why the heartache? Why the persecution? Well, our humanity limits our ability to see things as they really are. (I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that abortion is legal in my country.) Living in the world as a human being dictates that we see the world through a human kaleidoscope. This kaleidoscope clouds our vision, we can’t see the whole picture.
Persecutor and Persecuted
In this world there will be suffering, no human being receives a pass on suffering. Paul also knew suffering. During his lifetime he was both the persecutor and the one persecuted. He was the cause of tremendous pain and heartache before his conversion. After his conversion the actions of his former self surely weighed heavy on his heart. Eventually, for the sake of the Word, Paul would become the recipient of torture, abuse, and hardship – he carried his cross.
During our lifetimes we too will play both the persecutor and the one persecuted. Even though we have knowledge of Christ and we profess to love and follow him, we will still fall short and persecute others. We do this when we judge, gossip, exclude, and hate. Oh my, what a world we live in.
Catholic Hope
However, don’t lose hope! This is not a reflection on “Catholic Guilt”. Rather, this is a reflection on “Catholic Hope”. Since the Super Bowl is fast approaching I am going to use a sports analogy my husband shared with me. Think of life as a series of plays. Some plays move you ahead in the game and this brings much joy. Heck, we even have touchdowns and “Hail Mary” plays from time to time. You know, those super happy moments when you are on cloud nine. This could be your wedding day, the birth of your child, and the moments of bliss you experience when you sit with nature. God continually offers us limitless opportunities to experience winning plays in the game of life.
Yet, there will also be penalties, bad calls (just as the New Orleans Saints…), and plays where we lose footage. In addition to this, there will also be injuries, sometimes very serious ones. Sometimes we will be persecuted, we will be injured, and we will hurt. Like many of the followers of Jesus who were persecuted by Paul, and like Paul himself after his conversion, we will cry out to God in prayer and trust only to experience continued pain. Sometimes we falsely believe God doesn’t hear our prayers. The game of life will not always go as we hope.
The Divine Super Bowl
In life there will be hardships and blessings. Sometimes our life experiences will make perfect sense to us, and other times, well, we are left confused, brokenhearted, or even angry at God. Through it all God allows the game to play out. Why?
Why does God allow the suffering to continue? Our human kaleidoscope doesn’t allow us to fully understand why. All we can do is trust in God like the early followers of Jesus and St. Paul did. God’s words are true and he has the entire season under control. Heck, he has all the seasons under control! There are many games being played each season and within each game there are many plays being played. God is in the middle of each and every play.
Coach God
We can never know why God does what God does or why the game is set up as it is. However, we can trust our coach – Coach God. The coach who created heaven and earth has the power to coach us properly. In the space-time continuum we exist in mankind is still playing the game. Yet, each play is being run in the loving arena of God’s divine milieu. God’s seasons are infinite beyond human understanding and he has already won the Divine Super Bowl. That was played out in his Passion.
Global Light for Christ (GLFC)
Our community, GLFC, is a group of sojourners supporting one another in this game of life. If you are trying to more fully accept God’s invitation to play “nice” in his game then you are a perfect fit for our community! We are in this divine game together;-)
I want to thank all of you who post here. When I sit with your petitions, often in the Adoration Chapel at my parish, my heart is deeply touched when I feel both your pain and the love we hold for each other. Even though we are separated by space and time we are together in love. What a blessing we have in our community.
God bless all of you. See you next week Friday – Carolyn
If you would like to learn more about my work and my ministry I invite you to visit my website: CarolynBerghuis.com.
Saint Paul – pray for us.
God the Father – hold us in your Fatherly love.
Sacred Heart of Jesus – heal us with your divine love.
God the Holy Spirit – immerse us in divine love.
