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00:29How are you, dear friends?
00:29Dear brothers and sisters, welcome to our virtual classroom, the virtual classroom for active evangelization, and we are now finishing this study.
00:39that we have been doing on the Pauline writings and in this fourth module we will delve deeper, reflect on the
00:46Pauline spirituality.
00:48Our school differs from other Bible schools in that what is important is not only studying as we do
00:58scientifically, also writing, knowing a little about the structure of each of the books,
01:07Its sources, in short, everything necessary to be able to delve deeper into our texts, but above all the spiritual theme.
01:15And here we're going to find a great mine, we're really going to find gold in this section that we're going to be in.
01:23reviewing in the next eight lessons.
01:26So, well, today we begin with the first one where we're going to talk about conversion, as an encounter
01:35with Christ who will lead us, contrary to what we sometimes think, to death.
01:43But it is a death, but it is a death that ultimately gives life, remembering what Jesus said, if the grain
01:51Wheat does not die, for it remains unfruitful.
01:54So let's begin today this first chapter where we will see that for Paul, life in Christ is truly
02:06It's actually a gain, meaning that death isn't something terrible, but rather what ultimately prepares us.
02:14to participate eternally with him.
02:16So, well, one of the fundamental teachings of the first Christian catechesis is the requirement of conversion.
02:25This seems logical to us, since we see that from the beginning of their preaching, both John, John the Baptist, and Jesus
02:33They make this invitation, an invitation to conversion.
02:38Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near; indeed, Jesus himself presents it as fundamental to
02:48to be able to follow it.
02:50This will be the task that Jesus will entrust to his apostles, and on which the salvation of mankind will depend.
02:57Well, he tells us.
02:59I invite you to turn now to our text. Let's go to Mark 16:16, and in Mark 16:16 we
03:08says.
03:09Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved. Whoever refuses to believe will be condemned.
03:18And well, this belief, as we have already made quite clear in everything we have seen about Saint Paul,
03:25It was understood by the Christian community as a duty.
03:29That is, as a follow-up to the gospel, which will represent a radical life change that will be understood
03:37as metanoia for non-Jews and as shuv for Jews.
03:44It will mean adhering radically to the teachings of Jesus Christ.
03:50So when we say testify, what we are talking about is not only spoken testimony, but testimony
04:00throughout our lives.
04:02In other words, the one who refuses to believe.
04:05We could paraphrase that text from Mark: whoever refuses to live a Christian life, to live according to the teachings of
04:12Jesus,
04:13Well, that's the one who will ultimately be condemned.
04:17We can say that this will be the nerve center of the entire apostolic mission described by the Acts of the Apostles.
04:24Conversion is, in effect, the fundamental, all-encompassing requirement.
04:31through which men enter into the presence of God and through which they are called to respond to
04:37gospel of Jesus Christ,
04:39to God's message of salvation in his time.
04:43Conversion is directly linked to the response of men and women to Jesus' message about the
04:51arrival of the kingdom and, therefore, with faith in the message of salvation.
04:56It is not merely a preparation for a condition for faith as it was in the Old Testament,
05:04even in the message of John the Baptist.
05:07It is rather the logical and joyful reaction of man to the loving and saving action of God.
05:15Thus, New Testament conversion is accomplished through faith,
05:21And faith itself is already conversion as a complete obedience to God who makes himself present in Christ.
05:30Furthermore, being so closely linked to faith, conversion is presented as a dynamic process of eschatological projection
05:39that affects all human dimensions: moral, religious, personal, and collective.
05:49In other words, when we talk about conversion, we're talking about something that will affect all areas of my life.
05:58life
05:58and not only the religious area, which is usually the one we refer to.
06:04A person says, "I've already converted, I go to Mass, I've already converted, now I'm going to confession more often."
06:14I have already converted and it is always related to religious situations.
06:20The conversion must also affect our social life,
06:25People need to see us as new men and women,
06:29It has to affect our relationship with our spouse if we are married,
06:35with our children if we have children, with our parents if we have parents.
06:40There has to be a change, a conversion, I have to become, I have to transform myself.
06:46And that transformation has to be visible.
06:49And that is what this text from Mark 16:16 refers to.
06:54In other words, when I say I have faith, it's because I have works, as the apostle James will say in his
07:01Chapter 2.
07:02Faith without works is dead faith.
07:05Therefore, it is that testimony to which we refer,
07:09That is the true conversion, the one that affects all areas of my life.
07:15the financial aspect, how I spend my money,
07:18our recreational part,
07:22where I attend, what kind of show I see or hear,
07:26In short, a complete conversion.
07:30Therefore, we can say that conversion is ultimately the central concept.
07:36of the posture demanded by Jesus.
07:38There is no conversion, there is no Christian life.
07:42That is why St. Paul's thoughts on conversion
07:47It falls within this same perspective,
07:50although, as we shall see, it acquires its own characteristics.
07:54The life of this privileged witness to the early days of Christianity
07:58It was marked precisely by her personal experience on the road to Damascus,
08:05when he went from being a zealous persecutor of Christians
08:09to a privileged witness of Christ and apostle to the nations.
08:14The encounter with Christ in his life will mark a turning point that will radically change him.
08:21To put it another way, it will transform the apostle's life
08:24and will make him an instrument of grace.
08:29Without this experience, without this conversion suffered by the apostle,
08:33If this had not happened in his life, Saint Paul would have continued to be a zealous man.
08:38He was a religious man, but he had never become a saint.
08:44and the instrument of God's grace.
08:47Without this experience and understanding of what happened in Damascus,
08:52It would be difficult to understand his theology
08:55and the new lifestyle that characterizes it.
08:58That's why it's easier to understand Paul once our life has already taken the first step.
09:04when the kerygma is already part of our Christian life.
09:08This encounter with Jesus develops, through the power of the Holy Spirit,
09:14to the new man, to the man in Christ.
09:17Paul's experience, which is the starting point for understanding what true conversion means,
09:24It is fundamental for us in our study and in this part of Pauline spirituality.
09:31From the Acts of the Apostles and the Pauline writings,
09:35It follows that before his conversion,
09:38Saint Paul was a harsh persecutor of the early Christian community.
09:42This leads us to see that the conversion is indeed presented not only as a shub,
09:48conformity to the law, as a return to the law of God.
09:51In other words, Paul did not return to the law of God; he was a faithful follower of this law.
09:59but rather presents a genuine change of course,
10:04in a new understanding of law and life in all its aspects.
10:09Pablo converted, he didn't just align his life.
10:14We can see that this conversion in fact points to the approval of Stephen's death,
10:21was wreaking havoc in the church.
10:25He would enter houses, forcibly take away men and women, and put them in jail.
10:32Likewise, in his personal defense addressed to the Galatians,
10:37He confesses the perversity of his past life.
10:41Pablo was a different man.
10:44Paul, in the experience of Damascus, is completely transformed.
10:51That's where a new life begins.
10:54Paul's past life, the one he tells us about in Galatians,
10:59This one, which we have reference to through the Acts of the Apostles,
11:04It culminates in Damascus.
11:05God penetrates his heart; he does not call him to live by the law, but calls him to follow him.
11:13And this will make him understand the law in a different way.
11:18Let's look at Paul's testimony.
11:21Let's look at this text from Galatians.
11:23Let's go to Galatians 1:13, where Paul speaks precisely of the old Paul,
11:30of that Paul who is the one who destroys the church, the one who destroys Christian life.
11:38Let us then go and read the text of Galatians 1:13.
11:42And he tells us,
11:56Look at this text, my brothers.
11:59A text in which he acknowledges that he was a different man.
12:06These same sources testify to the fact of his sudden transformation into an apostle of Jesus Christ,
12:13wrought by God in that encounter, on that road to Damascus.
12:20And well, let's leave our reflection here for now.
12:24And we'll come back to look a little more now, directly at the Pauline writings.
12:31what does this tell us about conversion?
12:34We'll be back in a few moments.