What Does The Prayer Really Say?
W D T P R S

"Your Excellency… no… enough… Piero… stay in there until I say you can come out."

Let us make a rapid comparison of the Collects for this feast, looking at the 1962 Missale Romanum and the 2002, third edition, of the Novus Ordo Missale.

COLLECT (1962MR):
Deus, qui universum mundum
beati Pauli Apostoli praedicatione docuisti:
da nobis, quaesumus;
ut, qui eius hodie Conversionem colimus,
per eius exempla gradiamur.

LITERAL VERSION:
O God, who instructed the whole world
by the preaching of the Blessed Apostle Paul:
grant us, we beseech You,
that, we who are today honoring his Conversion,
may conduct ourselves according to his examples.

Blaise/Dumas indicates that gradior is not only "to walk" but "to behave oneself".

Many (many many) of the prayers of the pre-Conciliar form of the Missale Romanum, were cut up and changed for the Novus Order, if they made the cut at all, that is. Today’s prayer is a case in point. Here we go!

COLLECT (2002MR):
Deus, qui universum mundum
beati Pauli Apostoli praedicatione
docuisti,
da nobis, quaesumus,
ut, cuius conversionem hodie celebramus,
per eius ad te exempla gradientes,
tuae simus mundo testes veritatis.

LITERAL VERSION:
O God, who instructed the whole world
by the preaching of the Blessed Apostle Paul:
grant us, we beseech You,
that we, walking in life toward You according to the examples of him,
whose conversion we are celebrating today,
may be witnesses of Your truth in the world.

Okay… changes are obvious. Improvement or not?

The Collect for the Conversion of Paul was changed from the version in the pre-Conciliar Missal for the Novus Ordo. Do the changes represent an improvement? Make a choice!

• Yes, the changes are an improvement and this new version is superior.
• No, the changes are not for the better. The older version is preferable.

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A few days ago Benedict XVI received as a gift to the Holy See from some Americans one of the most ancient manuscripts of the Gospels. the 14-15 Bodmer Papyrus (P75), dated between AD 175-225. The Egyptian papyrus contains about half of each of the Gospels of Luke and John. It might have been originally for liturgical use. It contains the older version of the Our Father.

Scripture is our life’s blood as Catholics, together with Tradition and the Magisterium. Catholics hear more Scripture in the liturgy than just about any other Christian group might hear or imagine.

Translations of Scripture affect our liturgical prayers. Think, for example, about the terrible damage inflicted on the English speaking Catholics of the world because of the odd approaches to translation we endured in the past. Think of the "pro multis" controversy, now happily resolved. Translating texts can be difficult and of vast importance for the life of the Church. Think of what we understand about the Blessed Virgin because of the Greek word kekaritomene in Luke 1:28!

Today’s German language Kathpress Online-Tagesdienst has a little blurb that the Bible has been translated into at least 2426 languages. Makes you wonder how much confusion of doctrine and interpretation can result.

Thank God we have a solid God-guaranteed point of authoritative reference in the Catholic Church! Catholics do not fall into the trap of the un-Scriptural theory of sola scriptura which most protestants hold.

Nevertheless, Scripture is of decisive importance.

Bibel weitweit in 2.426 Sprachen übersetzt
Stuttgart, 24.1.07 (KAP) In 2.426 Sprachen können
einzelne Schriften der Bibel oder die ganze
Heilige Schrift gelesen werden. Wie die Deutsche
Bibelgesellschaft am Mittwoch in Stuttgart mitteilte,
kamen im vergangenen Jahr 23 Sprachen
neu hinzu. Die vollständige Bibel sei in 429 Sprachen
übersetzt. Das Neue Testament gibt es in
1.145 Sprachen. Die Bibel bleibe damit das am
häufigsten übersetzte Buch der Geschichte seit
Erfindung des Buchdrucks mit beweglichen Lettern
durch Johannes Gutenberg.

The 2005 Roman Martyrology has this entry today:

Festum Conversionis sancti Pauli, Apostoli, cui, apud Damascum cum iter faceret, adhuc spirans minis et caede in discipulos Domini, ipse Iesus in via se gloriosum revelavit eumque elegit, ut, Spiritu Sancto repletus, Evangelium salutis in gentibus nuntiaret, pro Christi nomine multa patiens. ... The feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, Apostle, to whom, as he was making a journey to Damascus then breathing threats and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, Jesus Himself revealed Himself as glorious and selected him, so that, filled with the Holy Spirit, he would announce the Good News of salvation amongst the Gentiles, while suffering great things for the Name of Christ.

And let us not forget that this is also the feast of St. Ananias, who came to Paul at the Lord’s urgin, overcoming his fears, and baptized him:

2. Commemoratio sancti Ananiae, qui, discipulus Domini, Damasci Paulum conversum baptizavit. The commemoration of holy Ananias, who, as a disciple of the Lord, baptized the converted Paul at Damascus.

You might be the instrument of God’s plan in the life of another who is now lost. Do not let fear thwart God’s will.

It sure sounds to me as if the Holy Father is saying that people who produce wretched stuff aimed at children are in risk of going to Hell.

The Holy Father issued his annual Message for World Day for Social Communion.   This year he focuses on "Children and the Media: a Challenge for Education"

Here is an interesting paragraph (my emphasis):

3. This heartfelt wish of parents and teachers to educate children in the ways of beauty, truth and goodness can be supported by the media industry only to the extent that it promotes fundamental human dignity, the true value of marriage and family life, and the positive achievements and goals of humanity. Thus, the need for the media to be committed to effective formation and ethical standards is viewed with particular interest and even urgency not only by parents and teachers but by all who have a sense of civic responsibility.

While affirming the belief that many people involved in social communications want to do what is right …, we must also recognize that those who work in this field confront "special psychological pressures and ethical dilemmas" (Aetatis novae, 19) which at times see commercial competitiveness compelling communicators to lower standards. Any trend to produce programmes and products – including animated films and video games – which in the name of entertainment exalt violence and portray anti-social behaviour or the trivialization of human sexuality is a perversion, all the more repulsive when these programmes are directed at children and adolescents. How could one explain this ‘entertainment’ to the countless innocent young people who actually suffer violence, exploitation and abuse? In this regard, all would do well to reflect on the contrast between Christ who "put his arms around [the children] laid his hands on them and gave them his blessing" (Mk 10:16) and the one who "leads astray … these little ones" for whom "it would be better … if a millstone were hung round his neck" (Lk 17:2). Again I appeal to the leaders of the media industry to educate and encourage producers to safeguard the common good, to uphold the truth, to protect individual human dignity and promote respect for the needs of the family.  

This is the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. The Fathers of the Church comment on Paul’s conversion.

Cassiodorus, for example, addresses how God can bring good from our evil ways, revealing that He has a plan for us and knows us better than we know ourselves:

Often the merciful Lord does not allow us to perpetrate evil deeds so that pricked by remorse we should prostrate ourselves for our sins, just as Saul was checked when he was sent by the priests to Damascus to ravage the Church of Christ with the most savage persecution. He was not permitted to attain great success, for that could have been the cause of his receiving eternal punishment. [Exp. of the Psalms 53.9]

Ephrem the Syrian uses the event of Paul’s conversion to address the Lord’s two natures.

This is why the humble voice accompanied the intense light, so that from the combination of the humble and the sublime, our Lord might produce help for the persecutor, just as all his assistance is produced from a combination of the small and great. For the humility of our Lord prevailed from the womb to the tomb…. His nature is not simply humble, nor is it simply sublime; rather they are two natures, lofty and humble, one mixed in the other. [Homily on Our Lord 34]

Speaking of an intertwining of the Lord’s characteristics, St. Augustine uses the occasion to address the Lord’s omnipresence:

How can we show that He is there and that he is also here? Let Paul answer for us, who was previously Saul…. For of all, the Lord’s own voice from heaven shows this: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Had Paul climbed up to heaven then? Had Paul even thrown a stone at heaven? It was Christians he was persecuting, then he was tying up, them he was dragging off to be put to death, them he was everywhere hunting out of their hiding places and never sparing when he found them. To him the Lord said, "Saul, Saul." Where is He crying out from? Heaven. So He’s up above. "Why are you persecuting me?" So He’s down below. [s. 122.6]

Of course you know that this voice of the Lord’s from heaven, also shows how Christ is present in His Body, the Church. Venerable Bede looks at this:

He did not say, "Why do you persecute my members?" but "Why do you persecute me?" Because He is still suffering from enemies in His body, which is the Church. He declared that kindness bestowed upon His members are also done to Him when He said, "I was hungry and you gave me to eat," and He added in explanation, "So long as you did it to one of the least of mine, you did it to me." [Commentary on Acts 9.4]

When we sin, we afflict the Lord, for our sins hurt our own person – which is a member of Christ’s Body – and also others. This is why in confessing our sins we must do penance. Penance is salutary for us, like the therapy we do after being injured and healed. It is also a matter of justice, because even hidden sins hurt everyone else. Sin is in a way a backward proof that we are not alone.

The humility of the Lord, the omnipresence of the Lord, His presence in the Church and thus with all the members of the Church firms up our confidence that He understands our sufferings. He shared our human state. Basil the Great says:

For it is written, "And when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be made subject to Him who subjected all things to Him." Do you not fear, O man, the God who is called unsubjected? For He makes your subjection His own, and, because of your struggle against virtue, He calls Himself unsubjected. Thus, He even said at one time that He Himself was the one persecuted: for He says, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" when Saul was hastening to Damascus, desiring to put in bonds the disciples of Christ. Against, He calls Himself naked, if anyone of His brothers is naked. "I was naked", He says, "and you covered me." And still again, when another was in prison, He said that He Himself was the one imprisoned. For He Himself took up our infirmities and bore the burden of our ills. And one of our infirmities is insubordination, and this He bore. Therefore, even the adversities that happen to us the Lord makes His own, talking upon Himself our sufferings because of His fellowship with us. [ep. 8]

Our knowledge that Christ is united in our infirmities, means that Christ knows what we need better than we know ourselves and He provides for it. It is not alway what we think we need of course. Sometimes the Lord’s assistance comes to us in unexpected ways. John Chrysostom says:

The eunuch was on the road and Paul was on the road, but the latter was drawn by no other than Christ Himself, for this was too great a work for the apostles. It was great indeed that, with the apostles at Jerusalem and no one of authority at Damascus, he returned from there converted. And those at Damascus know that he had not come from Jerusalem, for he brought letters that he might place the believers in chains. Like a consummate physician, Christ brought help to him, once he fever reached its height. It was necessary that he should be quelled in the midst of his frenzy, for then especially he would fall and condemn himself as one guilty of dreadful audacity. [Homilies on Acts 19]

Chrysostom’s passage also reminds us that your role in God’s plan is not limited to being small or great simply by your visible vocation. God used the eunuch, not the apostles, because the eunuch was suited to do what the apostles could not. In our lives, we must constantly remember that to do His work in this concrete time and place God does not choose those who are worthy, but those whom it pleases Him to choose, great or small, conspicuous or not.

The sudden realization of God’s will and plan, staring you in the face, can be a frightening and disorienting slap. God uses even unpleasant means to get our attention. Consider what Ambrose says:

Although Paul was struck and taken up and was terrified because blindness had befallen him, still he began to come near when he said, "Lord, what will you have me do?" For that reason he is called the youngest by Christ, so that he who was called to grace could be excused from the guilt of his hazardous years. Yes, Christ say him when the light shone around him; because young people are recalled from sin more by fear than by reason, Christ applied the goad and mercifully admonished him not to kick against it. [Joseph 10.58]

Oscar Wilde (not a Father of the Church) once said:

The only difference between saints and sinners is that every saint has a past while every sinner has a future [In Evil]

Echoing this, Bernard Malamud wrote:

"Experience makes good people better. We have two lives, Roy, the life we learn with and the life we live with after that. Suffering brings us toward happiness," she tells Roy. [The Natural, ch. 7]

We are works in progress. Perhaps when we encounter annoying people, we could try imagining them as God intended them in the Resurrection. People can indeed change and it is a work of mercy to bear with them and then help them. You never know what interior motions of grace are in operation because of your good example. God can bring forth richness from sterility, so He can use you – little person that you are – for great works you might never see.

Again Ambrose:

Although he saw nothing when his eyes were opened, still he saw Christ. And it was fitting that he saw Christ present and also heard Him speaking. That overshadowing is not the overshadowing of blindness by grace. Indeed, it is said to Mary, "The Holy Spirit shall come upon you and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you. [On the Patriarchs 12.58]

The Redeemer is not removed from us. We are not here simply to drift, without guiding signs and helps. Holy Church speaks and, in her voice, Christ is teaching. We have the sacraments. We have actual graces. We have the Lord Himself in whom our humanity is now at this moment reigning in glory at the right hand of the Father.

Others have you.