As people often say, "God writes straight with crooked lines." In his earlier days as a dedicated Pharisee, who would have thought that Paul could undergo such a radical conversion and, from being a persecutor of Christians, become one of the outstanding interpreters of Jesus' message and one of the most successful and effective missionaries of all time? Paul heard the words of Jesus in today's Gospel: "Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation" and put them into action in a way equalled by few since his time. We might look into our own lives today and ask to what extent our being Christian influences the lives and the thinking of those around us. Today also brings to an end the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. That unity was something which Jesus told His disciples would be a sign of His continuing presence in the world. Let us do what we can to be agents of unity between Catholics and Christians of other denominations. The effectiveness of the Gospel message depends on this.