"The average reader may be tempted to linger too long on certain
details, such as the light in the sky, falling to the ground, the voice
that called him, his new condition of blindness, his healing like scales
falling from his eyes and the fast that he made.
But all these details refer to the heart of the event: the Risen Christ
appears as a brilliant light and speaks to Saul, transforms his thinking
and his entire life. The dazzling radiance of the Risen Christ blinds
him; thus what was his inner reality is also outwardly apparent, his
blindness to the truth, to the light that is Christ. And then his
definitive "yes" to Christ in Baptism restores his sight and makes him
really see.
"In the ancient Church Baptism was also called "illumination", because
this Sacrament gives light; it truly makes one see. In Paul what is
pointed out theologically was also brought about physically: healed of
his inner blindness, he sees clearly.
Thus St Paul was not transformed by a thought but by an event, by the
irresistible presence of the Risen One whom subsequently he would never
be able to doubt, so powerful had been the evidence of the event, of
this encounter. It radically changed Paul's life in a fundamental way;
in this sense one can and must speak of a conversion. ....
"Turning now to ourselves, let us ask what this means for us. It means
that for us too Christianity is not a new philosophy or a new morality.
We are only Christians if we encounter Christ. Of course, he does not
show himself to us in this overwhelming, luminous way, as he did to Paul
to make him the Apostle to all peoples. But we too can encounter Christ
in reading Sacred Scripture, in prayer, in the liturgical life of the
Church. We can touch Christ's Heart and feel him touching ours. Only in
this personal relationship with Christ, only in this encounter with the
Risen One do we truly become Christians. And in this way our reason
opens, all Christ's wisdom opens as do all the riches of truth.
Therefore let us pray the Lord to illumine us, to grant us an
encounter with his presence in our world, and thus to grant us a lively
faith, an open heart and great love for all, which is capable of
renewing the world."
- His Holiness Benedict XVI
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