Saturday. [Acts 9:20–31; John 15:17–16:2]

   When Saint Paul began to preach in Damascus, all were amazed, saying: Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name? (Acts 9:21). Isn’t it always this way? Those close to someone who converts from unbelief to belief, or from sin to virtue, marvel over what happened has with this person. He did everything our way and now suddenly everything has changed: his words and his gaze, his step and his thoughts are not the same, and his undertakings are different, and the places where he goes are different. It is as if one were walking toward the west, and then suddenly turned around to the east. These two lives are contradictory and mutually exclude one another. He who wants to combine them, or to make a whole life with part from the one, and part from the other, will waste both time and effort with no success. What can these lives have in common?! Only those who do not understand things can say, “Why does it have to be so drastic!”