Richard Andre, CSP

Have you ever felt like you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time?

The church especially invites us to quiet reflection at two times of the year: Advent and Lent. For many of us in North America, however, it’s hard to make time for quiet reflection in December and March.

But January and February? It’s a time when some of us have less going on. The holiday festivities are over. There’s less outdoor work to do, too. Perhaps this is a good time to reflect on where we are on our journey of faith.

Conversion is a lifelong process for each of us. Christ continually invites us into a deeper, more intimate relationship with God. Our lives are filled with opportunities to take small, incremental steps towards God. It’s just a matter of recognizing those moments – with the grace of the Holy Spirit – and accepting them.

Some people say that St. Paul experienced a “lightning bolt” moment on the road to Damascus when he chose in an instant to give his life to God. I disagree. Paul – or Saul, as he was called – had given his life to God long before that. He had come to Jerusalem to study the Torah. He had dedicated himself to understanding how people could live in right relationship with God. Even his persecution of Christians was motivated by a wholehearted desire to carry out the will of God.

What happened on the way to Damascus? Christ revealed that there was “a still more excellent way” (1Cor. 12:31) for Saul to serve God. Saul refocused his mission. He found ways to more fully integrate his considerable gifts – his knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures, his passion for righteousness, his Greco-Roman citizenship and his gift of rhetoric – with the will of God. He didn’t have to start over from scratch.

This January and February, I’m reflecting on simplifying my life. I’ve had a lot of neat experiences over the years, and I treasure them all. However, it’s time for me to look forward. I am focusing on the exciting future God has planned for me. I pray that, with the Holy Spirit’s guidance, I may continually grow in my capacity to serve God’s will. I pray that when opportunities arise for me to spread the Gospel, I’ll be in the right place at the right time.

This year, may God bless each of us with opportunities to refocus our gifts towards the building of the kingdom.

Richard Andre, CSP, is a Paulist seminarian currently residing at St. Paul’s College in Washington, D.C.