The Conversion of St. Paul

This picture seem especially appropriate for today\’s feast because in most depictions we see St. Paul lying on the ground with a horse rearing up beside him, as if Paul had just been thrown off…but there\’s no mention of a horse in Scripture! Here are some thoughts to ponder from Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman (similar to something C.S. Lewis once wrote, which is probably a coincidence. But who knows?):
     \”We cannot well forget the manner of [Paul\’s] conversion. He was journeying to Damascus with authority from the chief priests to seize the Christians, and bring them to Jerusalem. He had sided with the persecuting party from their first act of violence, the martyrdom of Saint Stephen; and he continued foremost in a bad cause, with blind rage endeavoring to defeat what really was the work of divine power and wisdom. In the midst of his fury he was struck down by a miracle, and converted to the faith he persecuted…It was a triumph over the enemies of Christ, but it was also an expressive emblem of the nature of God\’s general dealings with the race of man. What are we all but rebels against God and enemies of the truth? Who then could so appropriately fulfill the purpose of him who came to call sinners to repentance, as one who esteemed himself the least of the apostles…When Almighty God in his infinite mercy purposed to form a people to himself out of the heathen, as vessels for his glory, first he chose the instrument of this his purpose as a brand from the burning, to be a type of the rest.\”