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Acts 9:1-20

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything. In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Yes, Lord,” he answered. The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.” “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.

This week’s lesson from the Acts of the Apostles gives us an idea how to deal with those who stand in opposition to the Gospel of Life. Anyone who has been to a March for Life, prayed outside of an abortion clinic, or even tried to engage life issues in social media have met the modern version of Saul of Tarsus. Our opposition truly breathes “threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.” (Acts 9:1) While this may be the case for opponents of the Faith generally, the attacks and calumny take on a particular vehemence when life issues are involved.

We may be tempted to breathe a little fire in return, or we may be tempted to give the answer of Anani’as of Damascus when asked by the Lord to lay hands on a blind Saul and restore his sight. He was incredulous! Anani’as had “heard from many about this man, how much evil he had done to the saints. Why on earth would he want to have anything to do with an individual like that? (Acts 9:13-14) Saul had been actively and physically involved in handing Christ’s followers over into persecution. It would be like going to lay hands on an actual abortionist, purveyor of assisted suicide or a physician who took part in euthanasia of the elderly. How would we react? How do we react?

Yet, the Lord said, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” So Ananias obeyed, laid hands on Saul, “immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight.” Baptism followed and the rest is history for the man now called St. Paul.

We have reason to rejoice at such encounters. In the words of the Psalmist, “ I will extol thee, O Lord, for thou hast drawn me up, and hast not let my foes rejoice over me. O Lord my God, I cried to thee for help, and thou hast healed me. O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.” (Ps. 30:1-3) We, like Saul of Tarsus have been delivered from the pit, and we have certainty that God has the victory.

If we can be transformed by Christ like Saul, so too can our foes. How many of the opponents of life have been transformed and now are instruments of the Lord to save lives? How many are like Dr. David Brewer who witnessed the horror of an abortion and declared, “I believe that God gives us all a conscience and I wasn’t a Christian, but I had a conscience and that hurt.…That was a very hard experience for me to go through, emotionally. If I’d been a Christian against abortion it would have been simple–I wouldn’t have been there.” That is the voice of Saul.

So, in our work for life, we are called to be Anani’as, to seek out and to love those who may be converted and become instruments of life and not death.