Third Week of Eastertide, Friday – Acts 9:1-20; John 6:52-59

Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

With the election of Pope Leo XIV as our new shepherd, we are reminded that true renewal depends not on our own efforts but on God’s gracious gift. Conversion is not a dazzling feat of human strength or merely a new routine. At its core lies God’s grace: a freely given help that stirs our will and inspires a genuine hunger for holiness.

Our task is one of humility and openness. We must admit that we cannot remake ourselves alone and entrust every weakness to the Lord. To convert is to seek the honest truth about who we are, to strip away the illusions and excuses that have become our false comforts, and to place all of it before God. This process can feel painful, but within that vulnerability we find true freedom.

Recall Saint Paul on the road to Damascus. Though zealous for God, everything changed when he encountered Christ. He did not become perfect in an instant; rather, he recognised his dependence on divine mercy, proclaimed Jesus as Lord, and relied on the grace he received.

In the same way, we are not asked to pretend we have strength where we do not. We are called instead to acknowledge our need for Christ’s mercy and to invoke it without reserve – just as our new Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, will lead us by that very mercy.

So now, let’s echo the prayer of the saints and say with one voice: Holy Spirit, lead me. Keep me close to God’s grace, guard me from self-reliance, and transform me by your power. Amen.