Today we celebrate the feast of the conversion of St. Paul. We all know the story-- Paul (then Saul) is on the road to Damascus to arrest Christians and take them back in chains to Jerusalem. On the road he is struck by a light from heaven that knocks him to the ground (not off his horse, as we commonly hear-- there is nothing in the account that suggests he was riding a horse) and renders him blind. Then a voice speaks to Saul, asking him why he is "persecuting me." Saul asks who is speaking, and the voice tells him that it is Jesus who Saul is persecuting (Acts 9: 5; see also Acts 22: 8 and 26:15-- Luke gives three accounts of the story of Paul's conversion). What happens next is worth a moment's reflection. The next words out of Saul/Paul's mouth are: "What shall I do?" (Acts 22: 10) Even though Saul has been zealous in persecuting the followers of Jesus, and is a Pharisee who moments before believed deeply and passionately in what he was doing, the encounter with Christ works a fundamental change in him. From someone who never met Christ and would willingly kill his followers, Saul becomes someone who asks Jesus what he should do, who submits to the will of Christ. And then he does what Jesus tells him to do-- exactly as Jesus commands. He didn't have to do that, of course. He could have remained rigid in his beliefs, stubborn, hard-hearted, if you will. But Saul didn't do that. He allowed Jesus into his heart. He allowed a process of conversion to start-- a process that would take years before Saul/Paul began to understand the reality of Jesus and integrate that into his life and thus could go out and preach the good news of the Gospel so successfully. From time to time in our lives Jesus slaps up upside the head, maybe not as powerfully as He did to Saul, but powerfully enough to get our attention. He asks us to open our hearts, to soften our hearts, to let Him in, to allow Him to begin or further in us a process of conversion. Watch for those moments. Listen to your heart. Hear what Jesus is telling you to do. Then, and this is the most important part, do what He tells you. That is how conversion works.