ACC ~ Acts 9 v1 - 2

THE WRATH OF SAUL WAS NOT PERMITTED TO SUCCEED. CASSIODORUS: Often the merciful Lord does not allow us to perpetrate evil deeds so that pricked by remorse we should prostrate ourselves for our sins, just as Saul was checked when he was sent by the priests to Damascus to ravage the church of Christ with the most savage persecution. He was not permitted to attain great success, for that could have been the cause of his receiving eternal punishment. EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 53.9.

THE HUMILITY AND SUBLIMITY OF THE LORD. EPHREM THE SYRIAN: This is why the humble voice accompanied the intense light, so that from the combination of the humble and the sublime, our Lord might produce help for the persecutor, just as all his assistance is produced from a combination of the small and great. For the humility of our Lord prevailed from the womb to the tomb. … His nature is not simply humble, nor is it simply sublime; rather they are two natures, lofty and humble, one mixed in the other. HOMILY ON OUR LORD 34.

Acts