St. Paul was a convert to the faith, called by Christ Jesus. In today's first reading from Galatians 1, we hear an interesting part of his story.
Paul spent three years after his conversion preparing for the next part of his ministry. He doesn't say exactly what he did during this time, but I think we can safely assume he spent much time in prayer. Then he went up to Jerusalem to confer with Peter. After this he became known throughout the churches of Judea and the people glorified God because this man who once persecuted the Church was now preaching the faith.
I'm a revert and I've know many converts. It can be tempting for converts to jump headlong into things after a radical conversion. Most often, that temptation should be resisted. St. Paul gives a great witness to waiting. It takes time to learn the faith, and it takes time for people to get used to "the new you" and even begin to trust. As I'm sure many people feel very zealous (not a bad thing) in their new found faith, perhaps the old government axiom holds true - hurry up and wait.
Father, we thank you for our conversions - the first time and each day. May we build up trust as we preach the gospel to others. Amen.
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Amen Gus! Great advice!
I witnessed this with a young man who just entered the Church this past Easter. He had a lot of questions about how to grow in faith – and there was no shortage of answers/opinions. The one that seemed to help him the most was to take a page from his 12-step program (the steps are numbered for a reason!) and slow down.