…..Well, speed is analogue, so something can be going at the same speed in any direction. Velocity is a vector, so something going at x mph west will cancel out something going at -x mph (east). Two cars travelling in opposite directions can have the same speed, but their net velocity will cancel each other out. I like to see the character of Paul in these terms. Before he was converted on the road to Damascus, he had a great energy to destroy the Way, after his conversion, his energy (speed) was the same, just his focus (velocity) had changed. God had turned him round to face the opposite direction, but he retained his drive and purpose for whatever project he was pursuing, and now he was being driven by Christ.

Initially, this young man, brought up as a Pharisee, as an observant Jew, saw this new Messianic movement as a threat to the way he understood his religion. He tells us that he was "according to the Law a Pharisee, according to zeal a persecutor of the church, according to righteousness based on the Law blameless" (Phil 3:5-6). Setting that as a backdrop to his early life, all he can see of Jesus is a rebel rightly executed for blasphemy, who had been condemned by the holders of the Jewish Law. This movement must be in error and therefore it was right to do all in his power to extinguish it. That is the way of the zealot... the religious fundamentalist even.

Yet we see that his zeal for the law, is turned by Jesus himself into zeal for Christ.

To look at the person of Paul, I think we need to look at that aspect, the energy he has for a given cause. It is only on top of that base that the mission, the theology, all his ideas and journeys can be placed. There is so much of the character of St. Paul that we can see in his letters, that it would be impossible to highlight more than just a few in a short homily, but in the person of Paul we can see a definite way of living the Gospel, a truly dynamic and energetic love of God.

The purpose of this dramatic conversion we see expressed by Paul in his letter to the Galatians, "to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles" (Gal 1:16). Paul interiorises the call, reflecting that he is a chosen vessel of God's grace for this specific purpose, and he goes further, to suggest that this had been God's plan from the very beginning: that God had specially chosen him whilst he was still in his mother's womb (Gal 1:15). So Paul is able to see himself, with all his own characteristics; on one hand this great energy which God has been able to manipulate in him, on the other hand, Paul's own admission of being not very good at speaking, yet it was something he had to do for the sake of the Gospel.

This idea that he is the chosen vessel of the grace of God is summed up by his feeling that he is a changed person, and that in reality he is no longer himself, "I have been crucified with Christ, and I live now not with my own life, but with the life of Christ who lives in me" (Gal 2:20) He does not need his own power, or his own projects, now his sole purpose is to be an instrument in the hand of the Risen Christ. "His grace is enough for me". This then gives Paul a further impetus, because he feels that everything good that happens to him is for the benefit of the Gospel he preaches and every hardship as well. He accepts hardships for the sake of Jesus, and sees that the only reason he survives is because God has given him the strength and ability do do what needs to be done. It is no longer Paul's own power that is working here, rather the power of God working in him and through him. His own power is nothing in comparison, "I am quite content with my weaknesses, and with insults, hardships, persecutions, and the agonies I go through for for Christ's sake. For it is when I am weak that I am strong" (2 Cor 12:10).

Paul seems happy to boast in his weaknesses, but this is him recognising that true power comes from God, and any effort we might make to resist it is sinful and futile. If humility is the ability to know oneself, and to allow God to drive, then Paul, despite his bluster and somewhat antagonistic style, is actually very humble. He has put himself, warts and all, into the hands of Jesus.

How easy it is to resist that, to decide that we know best and want to do things our way! Paul has a lesson for us, that we need to allow Jesus to lead us. What were Jesus' final words to the apostles in John's Gospel? "You are to follow me". If that was good enough for the apostles, it is good enough for us, and like St. Paul, God uses what He has created, with all our strengths and weaknesses to do his will and to spread his word, "to be my witnesses... to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8).