I have a question for us to consider: “Do we really believe in what God can do for us?” There are moments in life when we look back and realize that God was doing something in us long before we recognized it.
Sometimes we think our past disqualifies us from serving God and those He places in our lives. We remember our mistakes, our failures, our wrong choices, or maybe the years when we were far from the Lord. But today’s readings remind us of something important: God does not define or constrain us by our past. Instead, He sees the person He created us to become. That’s how the Lord sees us.
St. Paul gives us a powerful example when he says, “You heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I persecuted the Church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it.” Paul doesn't hide his past. He remembers it honestly. Paul wasn’t simply indifferent to Christ; he actively opposed Christ and persecuted His followers.
And yet Paul says, “But when God, who from my mother’s womb had set me apart and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me…” Those words, “from my mother’s womb,” are remarkable because they remind us of when we first meet God.
That takes us directly to Psalm 139: “You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb. I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made.” It made me wonder: how many days can we say that we were fearfully and wonderfully made by God?
Before Paul knew his vocation, God knew it. Before Paul understood his mission, God had a plan for him. Even during the years when Paul was moving in the wrong direction, God didn’t abandon him. And the same is true for us.
God knows us more deeply than we know ourselves because He created us. He knows our history, our wounds, our weaknesses, our gifts, and even the parts of ourselves we would rather forget. Yet He doesn’t look at us and say, “You are your past. The die has been cast.”
Instead, He looks at us with mercy and says, “I know you, I have called you, and I am not finished with you and what you will become.” That is the heart of conversion.
Conversion isn’t only something that happens to people who were once far from God. It happens every day. God continually calls us to become more fully the person He created us to be. Perhaps there is something in our past that we need to surrender to God’s mercy. Perhaps there is something God is asking us to do today that we’ve been conveniently avoiding. Or perhaps we simply need to trust that our lives have meaning and purpose, even when we can’t yet see them.
Like Paul, we can say, “God’s grace is greater than my past… or present.” And like the Psalmist, we can give thanks: “I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made,” and grow in belief of it.
My brothers and sisters, God knows and loves us completely. And God is still calling us today to change for the better, to grow in virtue and holiness, beyond our wildest dreams. And if you ever doubt it, just look at St. Paul.