Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul

Just feels good to start getting back to some form of normality after self-isolating. Just a walk up by the castle, and after you have had covid an increasing surprise that so many people don’t get the importance of keeping their distance and even look at you a bit oddly if you give them a wide berth. Others, to be fair, do get it and let others pass in narrow spots. My resolution at the start of last year to like dogs gets pretty tested when dog owners seem to assume that dogs and leads have right of way and small black bags are left hanging from branches like dystopian Christmas baubles. It wasn’t helped in October by my big effort to be nice and pat my sister’s dog, which promptly bit me. I could see he knew there was no real friendship intended. However, this is a great feast. So often we read St. Paul and forget that this is the event that colours his whole life and missionary effort. Once he had met Jesus he could not stop wanting people to meet him too, and even if at times we find what he says difficult, it is all written out of this desire, for us to share the wonder of meeting Jesus that so changed his life. We can forget that he writes about love so often, and often about his own failures (sometimes his own successes too), but it is the love of God that drives everything he does and says. (No mention of dogs.)