"Reveal... Proclaim."

I ask for the grace to pray and meditate faithfully.  I ask for patience, tolerance, compassion, and empathy.  I ask to abstain from anger, anxiety, compulsive behaviour, discouragement, and self-importance.  May the Holy Family find hospitality in my home and in my heart this season.  May my thoughts, words, and actions proclaim justice, kindness, and humility.


Galatians 1:13-17
13 You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. ¹⁴I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. ¹⁵But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased ¹⁶to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, ¹⁷nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus.


1) "...no doubt;" "...violently persecuting the church;" "...trying to destroy it;" "...zealous for the traditions of my ancestors;" "...set me apart before I was born;" "...called me through his grace;" "...was pleased to reveal his son to me;" "...apostles before me;"


2) This account, of course, seems to contradict the account of Paul's conversion given by Luke in Acts.  I'm torn as I hear this text as to what counts as "authoritative."  Paul wants to make it clear that he heard the Gospel directly from Christ, and therefore, the Gospel he proclaims is authoritative.  So his revelation is more authoritative than other's encounters?  I'm not sure Paul is winning me here.  I can witness the extreme change in his behaviour from persecuting the followers of Jesus to proclaiming the way of Jesus to the Gentiles.  Extreme changes in behaviour leading to a more redemptive way of being are highly commendable, like an alcoholic who goes from neglecting their family to seeking amends; or parents who once ostracized their LGBTQ child, realized the error of their ways and now fight for LGBTQ rights.  Something has happened in their souls that has not only changed them, but the very fabric of the cosmos as they participate in it.  So maybe if I hear Paul speaking in that kind of light.  But he is so often clear that the discernment of the will of God takes place within community that his "revelation" independent of conferring "with any human being," I find hypocritical.  "Direct" revelation is highly suspicious.  I feel I've experienced "direct" revelation, but I always interpret that revelation through community, and tradition.  I never take it as an independent authority onto itself.  After all, "revelation" or a "strange warming of the heart" could be nothing more than a bit of undigested beef.  New "insight" is possible.  I do want a point of contact with the divine, but I also want it mediated through community.


3) What is the invitation in all this?  What makes for authoritative revelation?  How does this apply to Paul? 


"Holy One, form us, inform us, reform us."


Breathprayer: "Reveal... proclaim."