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| Annanias lays hands on Saul (Paul) for healing. |
In the reading
from the Acts of the Apostles today we hear again the story of St. Paul in his
encounter with the risen Christ. I want
to think with you for a few minutes about what happened after the famous event
on the Road to Damascus and what we call the New Evangelization in our day.
Following his encounter with the risen Christ, Paul was blind. In Damascus he had a dream that someone would come to him and lay hands on him “that he might
regain his sight.” No doubt he hoped that the person – identified as Ananias –
would really come with some news of hope and bring to him some kind of healing so that Paul might
recover his sight.
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| Chapel of Saul's healing, Damascus, Syria |
Addressing those present for his Mass in the Vatican’s
Saint Martha guesthouse this week, Pope Francis spoke referring to the
importance of evangelizing – i.e. sharing the news that Christ has defeated the
power of death and that we need not live in fear but with the vision, the
sight of God’s kingdom for which we work and in which is our eternal
hope.
It is a vision
that must be shared. Just as Ananias was the instrument of Paul’s healing by the
laying on of hands in prayer and by sharing with him how Saul the
persecutor (now Paul) was called to evangelize others for the risen Lord. Ananias was evangelizing Paul, incorporating
him into the Evangel, the good news of our healing and salvation, through the power of the risen Lord.
Describing how it
is God calls us into relationships with people, Pope Francis said this week:
“You can’t evangelize without dialogue.
It’s impossible. You must begin from where the person comes from,” he observed, “this is so important.”
Listening to
people sharing their blindness or sin or sorrow will allow you to be an agent
for the healing of the Holy Spirit and helping to incorporate them into a
community of grace and healing.
Stating that some might say, “But father, we waste so
much time because every person has his or her own story, he or she comes with
their own ideas,” Pope Francis’
responded: “Spend time with that person because that person
is who God wants you to evangelize,” Then he added that its important to share our own understanding of
the risen Lord. We must share with them “according
to who he or she is, not how they should be: [but] how he or she is right now.”
Continuing, the Holy
Father encouraged people to think about three “moments of evangelization,” naming them as:
+“the docility to
evangelize, to do what God is requesting,”
+ “secondly, a
dialogue with people” beginning from
where these people find themselves.
+ “And thirdly,
trusting in grace: Grace is more important than all the bureaucracy [of the
Church].”
Above all Pope
Francis urged: “Spend time with [each person you encounter] because that person
is who God wants you to evangelize."
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| The Gate of St. Paul, Damascus |
St. Paul was
brought to healing through the evangelization of Ananias who spent time with
him in his blindness until Paul found sight and healing – then he himself became
the great evangelist. Thanks be to God.
Homily at Friday noon Mass, May 9, 2024
St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel, Newman Centre, Toronto
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