WEBVTT 00:00:01.040 --> 00:00:04.559 A few days ago we heard a name almost in passing. 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:11.679 At the stoning of Stephen, the witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. 00:00:12.160 --> 00:00:15.839 Just a detail, almost easy to miss. 00:00:16.640 --> 00:00:18.800 But today he's no longer in the background. 00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:20.960 He is front and center. 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:22.480 And what do we find? 00:00:22.640 --> 00:00:30.960 Not a seeker, not a believer, but a man breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord. 00:00:31.600 --> 00:00:33.759 He's convinced he's right. 00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:36.079 Convinced he's defending God. 00:00:36.320 --> 00:00:38.799 Convinced he's on the side of truth. 00:00:40.159 --> 00:00:42.479 That's what makes this so dangerous. 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:48.159 Because you can be completely sincere and be completely wrong. 00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:51.119 And then everything changes. 00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:59.039 A light, a fall, a voice, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? 00:00:59.840 --> 00:01:02.640 Notice what Jesus did not does not say. 00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:06.239 He doesn't say, Why are you persecuting my followers? 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:09.599 He says, Why are you persecuting me? 00:01:10.640 --> 00:01:14.079 Because to touch the church is to touch Christ. 00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:16.480 There's no separation. 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:19.040 And Saul is struck blind. 00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:22.079 But the reality is he was already blind. 00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:29.840 Blind in his certainty, blind in his pride and his ego, blind in his belief that he saw clearly. 00:01:30.159 --> 00:01:37.120 And sometimes the only way God can make us see is to first take away what we think is sight. 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:48.879 Three days, no vision, no food, no control, just silence, waiting, just being undone. 00:01:50.480 --> 00:01:52.319 And then comes Ananias. 00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:56.640 And this part matters because Ananias doesn't want to go. 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:00.719 Lord, do you know who this man is? 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:04.239 In other words, this man is dangerous. 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:06.640 This man has done real damage. 00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:10.960 This man is not the worth, not worth the risk. 00:02:12.960 --> 00:02:15.680 But God answers with something that should shake us. 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:19.439 This man is a chosen instrument of mine. 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:21.520 That man? 00:02:21.919 --> 00:02:22.479 Yes. 00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:24.000 Yes, that man. 00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:28.960 Because God does not choose people based on their past. 00:02:29.439 --> 00:02:33.360 He chooses them based on what he can do through them. 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:45.520 So Ananias goes and listen to the first words he says: Saul, my brother, not enemy, not threat, but brother. 00:02:46.159 --> 00:02:49.599 And in that very moment, everything changes. 00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:58.479 The scales fall, Saul is able to see, he's baptized, and immediately begins to proclaim Jesus. 00:02:58.879 --> 00:03:03.599 Now, if we go to the gospel, Jesus says something just as radical. 00:03:04.159 --> 00:03:10.800 Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. 00:03:12.159 --> 00:03:14.159 There's no softening to that. 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:17.039 No metaphor to hide behind. 00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:19.439 This is as direct as it gets. 00:03:19.599 --> 00:03:21.199 This is demanding. 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:23.599 And people struggle with it. 00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:28.960 They argue, they resist because this is not comfortable religion. 00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:34.319 But here's the connection: Saul had to be knocked down to be raised up. 00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:37.520 He had to be emptied in order to be filled. 00:03:37.759 --> 00:03:41.680 He had to lose control in order to receive truth. 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:44.560 And the same is true for us. 00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:51.759 Because the Eucharist is not just something you receive, it is someone who transforms you. 00:03:52.400 --> 00:03:57.520 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. 00:03:58.400 --> 00:03:59.759 That's union. 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:01.840 That's transformation. 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:05.199 That's not surface-level faith. 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:07.759 But here's the condition. 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:10.000 We need to surrender. 00:04:10.719 --> 00:04:12.159 We need to let go. 00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:16.240 We need to allow ourselves to be changed. 00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:18.720 And that's where most people hesitate. 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:22.959 Because we want Jesus, yes, but without losing control. 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:28.800 We want to be able to have a grasp on all contacts. 00:04:29.439 --> 00:04:31.600 We want grace without conversion. 00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:34.639 We want the Eucharist without transformation. 00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:37.279 But it doesn't work that way. 00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:42.480 Saul didn't stay Saul, he became Paul. 00:04:44.240 --> 00:04:48.079 His identity, his mission, his life all changed. 00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:57.040 So here's the question: What in your life needs to be knocked down so that something greater can be raised up? 00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:00.560 Where are you still holding on to? 00:05:01.759 --> 00:05:04.160 Where are you still resisting? 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:06.879 Where are you still blind? 00:05:07.759 --> 00:05:08.160 Why? 00:05:08.319 --> 00:05:13.519 Because Jesus is not just calling you to believe in him, he's calling you to be transformed by him. 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:22.240 And that transformation begins here, at this very altar, where Christ becomes present in the Eucharist. 00:05:23.040 --> 00:05:29.839 So today receive Him, surrender to Him, and let Him do what only He can do. 00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:34.959 Let him open your eyes so that you may change your life forever. 00:05:35.279 --> 00:05:35.920 Amen.