The first reading today is the story of Paul on the road to Damascus. Paul knocked to the ground,  having a vision and becoming blind. Paul making a sharp turn in his life and going from persecuting the followers of the Way to becoming one of them.

Today, the person who jumped out at me in that story was Ananias. The Lord told Ananias to go see Saul – the one who was known to be doing everything in his power to rub out everything that Ananias held dear. After a bit of reminding the Lord just who Saul was, Ananias says “OK”, goes to Saul and lays hands on him and prays over him. The story says that the scales fell from Paul’s eyes and he regained his sight.

Whoa! Ananias must have had to resort to walking with a lot of faith to follow that order. I mean, he had all the evidence before him that this Saul was surely out to do him harm. And Saul didn’t exactly land on his doorstep either – he had to get up and go to the street called Straight, and ask for Saul. And then he had to pray over/with him.

I don’t like it when I’m called to do something even remotely like this. I don’t like having to give up my vision of another person (especially one I think is persecuting me) and reach out to them. It’s my right to feel scared and harried and persecuted and self-righteous and protect myself!

Or is it?