27th week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday, October 10,2006

Scripture: Galatians 1:13-24. Psalm 139:1-3,13-15. Luke 10:38-42

St. Paul's conversion amazes me and I am thankful for it because it is he who has brought the Gospel about Jesus to the Nations or Gentiles (the Goyim). In Galatians and parts of Philippians, Paul refers to his Pharasaical background and his origins as a Benjamite. He was most zealous for the Torah and lived it out prior to his conversion experience. Now he is reflecting on his call and the follow-up steps in his formation as an apostle called by God. He will preach that Jesus is both Lord, Messiah, and Savior. Paul did not remain isolated after his conversion, but sought out the other apostles in Jerusalem and started to make new friends like Aquila and Priscilla. He never would be away from a community setting in these years of his formation. He sought out those who knew Jesus and profited from their friendship and advice. Some of them will travel with him on his apostolic missions to strange countries and peoples. Being a citizen of three cultures--Roman, Hebrew, and Greek, Paul would use these gifts for his proselytizing of people. He understood that "no one is an island unto self" but needs to be a person with a community. It was the community of Jerusalem that helped Paul to be a great apostle. He became a great preacher of the Good News because of the friendship he shared with Peter, James, and Barnabas. He launched out into the deep and caught others in the net of friends like Timothy, Titus, and Silvanus.

Paul certainly knew the great Psalm 139 and undoubtedly prayed it in the light of his own conversion experience--it is that type of a Psalm! "O Lord, you have probed me and you know me...you understand my thoughts from afar."

Jesus, too, relied on friends in his travels and his mission in salvation history. Today's passage from Luke gives us the names of two of his dearest friends, Martha and Mary. They offered him hospitality and followed him especially in Jerusalem and Bethany. Their home was a place where he, the Son of Man could rest his head and have a good meal besides. We need Martha for it is she who "sets the table". We need Mary for it is she who says the prayers before and after meals. Amen.