Our Venerable Father John the Ancient Hermit (c. 800).
Abstention from meat and foods that contain meat.
Acts 8:40-9:19. John 6:48-54.
Read Acts 8:40-9:19
Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!
Today we read the account of Saul’s encounter with Jesus on the road near Damascus. Saul intended to arrest any disciples of Christ he encountered and bring them to Jerusalem. On the road, Saul fell to the ground after a light from heaven shone around him and he heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4). This encounter should remind us of the parable of the Last Judgment when the king tells those on his left hand, “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me” (Mt. 25:45). Saul’s persecution of Christians and neglect of treating them with love was akin to persecuting Christ the King Himself.
Saul had no faith in Christ. He was spiritually blind, and this was manifested in his losing physical sight for three days. The light of Christ shone around him on the road, but none of that Light was within him. Ananias, on the other hand, was full of faith! He was sent by Jesus in a vision to visit Saul, the man who “has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on [Jesus’] name” (Acts 9:14). Trusting in Jesus and obeying His command, Ananias bravely went to Saul and laid his hands on him so that he might receive his sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Saul was blind and neither ate nor drank for three days after his encounter with Jesus. In effect, Saul was like a dead man who neither eats nor drinks. After Ananias prayed with him and immediately healed him, having his sight back he immediately “arose and was baptized” before receiving food and being strengthened (Acts 9:18-19). Saul was now alive in Christ!
Jesus was so loving and merciful to Saul to appear to him in this way for his salvation. As Jesus told Ananias in the vision, “Go, for he [Saul] is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake” (Acts 9:15-16). Saul, who today we better know as St. Paul, suffered many things in his life for the sake of Jesus and the Christian faith. In our churches today, most often at liturgies we continue to read the epistles that St. Paul wrote to early Christian communities. We consider his letters to be Sacred Scripture, inspired by the same Holy Spirit with Whom he was filled at the hands of Ananias.
Let us remember that God is good and loves all mankind. He is loving and merciful to us all, and He is willing to forgive all of our sins. Whatever sins we have committed in our lives do not need to stand as a barrier to God’s vocation for us or the work of the Holy Spirit in the world through our lives. Let the Light of Christ shine in our lives and not be obscured by our lack of faith and sinfulness.