Read the reflection once more and answer the questions you find there - Daily Reflections January 25, 2014

ONGOING CONVERSION

 

When we hear the word “conversion,” we usually think of a great sinner who abandons a sinful life and becomes a good person. Paul was actually not a bad person. When he persecuted the Church, he did it out of zeal for God and his religion. He just did not understand yet who Christ was, and that Christ had not come to destroy the traditional faith but that He brought more profound insights into who God is. What we commemorate today, therefore, is more the enlightenment of Paul, a call to a new understanding of God.

       We are all called to an ongoing conversion. This also does not mean that we have to be first bad persons who need to turn away from evil and become good Christians. Even the saints, who certainly were already good Christians, were aware of a necessary ongoing conversion. The Greek word for conversion is metanoia, which indicates a “turning.” Two kinds of turning are required: a turning away from the present way of life, and a turning to a new way of life, to a new understanding of who God is and what Christ wants us to do.

       Turning away from the present way of life entails a challenge. “Turning away from” and “turning to” is an adventure, as it was in the life of St. Paul. Never in his wildest dreams would he have thought that one day he would travel more than 4,000 kilometers by land and sea to preach. But this adventure kept him alive, strong and excited until the end of his life.

       Not only in daily life, but also in our religious life, can we easily fall into a dull routine. Just think of your prayers. Has your way of prayer changed since your childhood? Have you adapted to the liturgy where you are invited to participate, to sing, and pray together? When you hear the Gospel, do you listen or turn to other thoughts because you “know it already”?

       Oh yes, we can be “good Christians” but still need conversion: a turning away from routine and a turning to a new, exciting future guided by God’s Spirit, who is always full of surprises. Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: Read the reflection once more and answer the questions you find there.

 

Lord, let Your Holy Spirit excite me so that I may leave my old ways behind, get out of my routine, and have the courage to be open to wherever Your Spirit wants to guide me.