An Itinerary for the Conversion Journey

God’s grace changes lives: He takes us as we are, but He never leaves us as we are (Pope Francis, General Audience Wed 2 Dec 2020).

After Christmas, it is easy to feel a bit of an ‘anti-climax’.  There are more needles on the floor than on the tree, if there was a lovely coating of snow it has now all turned to slush.  In normal years the time off work and school is ending and we are back to the usual routine.  It can feel like an empty time when the family and friends have all returned home and are no longer visiting.  We can be left with a blank ‘what happens now?’ feeling.

Convert

In these days between Christmas and the New Year let us pause and think of John the Baptist’s call to the people to convert and prepare the way for the Lord. John was the new Elijah who prepared the way for the Messiah. He is the transition between the Old Testament and the New, between anticipation and arrival. The journey itself is the search for God and his kingdom.  

John the Baptist reveals an itinerary of faith. This itinerary of faith is an itinerary of conversion.  Conversion means to change direction and orientation; and thus also to change one’s way of thinking. In the moral and spiritual life, to convert means to turn oneself from evil to good, from sin to love of God (Pope Francis Angelus, 6 December 2020).

John the Baptist

John was the first-born son in a priestly family of the clan of Abijah, a descendant of Aaron, therefore he was a priest himself. As such, he began his work at the age of 30, which is the age required to begin the functions of a priest.  Jesus also began his work at the age of 30.  That means John began to proclaim the arrival of the Kingdom of God six months before Jesus began his public work. John would have known when Jesus would start, if not exactly how or where. He didn’t need to know the details, he trusted in God’s plan.

John preached by the river Jordan where many people passed when travelling between East and West in the Roman Empire. In a sense ‘all the world passed by’ and great crowds gathered to hear him preach – Jews and Gentiles, soldiers and publicans.  The world was much more religious and the desire for the messiah was at a fever pitch.  The wait had been so long, it had been 400 years since the last prophet. John preached conversion of heart and also taught for it to be followed by action. 

Produce good fruits as evidence of your repentance (Luke 3:8)

When Jesus arrived at the River Jordan to be baptised, John recognised Him as the Messiah. We can only imagine their emotions as they stood facing each other, standing in the cool waters of the Jordan. What a marvellous day it must have been for John to know that the time had come for the Kingdom of God at last.  How eager he must have been the following day to point out Jesus as the Lamb of God to his disciples, full of joy knowing he was sending them to follow God while He walked on earth.

When John was imprisoned, I imagine it was a relief for him that Jesus had begun his mission. John’s preaching had helped the Jewish people to prepare for the coming of God. So many of the prophecies, including his own, had been fulfilled. 

We know John was in prison for about a year. Imagine what he must have been subjected to during his time as Herod’s prisoner.  The guards would certainly have mocked him and lied to him about what was happening throughout Galilee and in Jerusalem. We read later how Jesus was treated when a prisoner – they would have done no less to the famous prophet John the Baptist. His disciples may have begun to lose heart as John decreased in the public eye. Eventually, John sent his disciples to Jesus with the question, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” Jesus said to them in reply, 

Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them (Matthew 11:2-5).

John the Baptist preached ‘metanoia’, this conversion requires more than feeling sorrow for past sins and a sign of spiritual cleansing. Rather, it calls for a fundamental change in life’s direction. We must not be like the Pharisees, believing we no longer need to be saved because we “have Abraham for our Father”.  Conversion is not a single event, it is a journey.

Conversion

The first work of the grace of the Holy Spirit is conversion. Through grace, man turns towards God and away from sin, accepting forgiveness from on high. (cf CCC 1989) God issues the call to conversion, our response is a confession of sinfulness, an openness to receive God’s mercy and forgiveness in faith, and a joyful desire to love God and our neighbour in word and action.

Detachment from sin is a detachment from worldliness. An itinerary is a detailed plan for a journey.  Every journey begins with a departure which in the journey of conversion is detachment from sin. This is not an easy thing because temptation is always there to try to keep us tied to sin. We can be plagued by discouragement, bad examples, bad environments. One can be tempted to say that it is impossible to truly convert, that it is too difficult. At these times it is important to remember that conversion is a grace, it is a gift from God.  No one can convert by their own strength, but it is possible with God.  The goal we are called to is a gift of God. Remember that we are created to become holy. This requires that we see ourselves as we truly are, knowing that we cannot fool God. We must face the reality of our behaviour and our attitudes, to recognise that we have not loved God and our neighbours as we should, to admit to the attachments and mistakes of our days. Recognising our faults we can confess to them and begin to separate ourselves from them permanently. This is the beginning of our journey of conversion (cf Pope Francis, Angelus 6 December 2020).

Turn to God

As we enter a new year, it seems a good time to ponder in our hearts the mission of John the Baptist and devote ourselves to the gradual turning away and withdrawal from sin and selfishness and the turning towards God who is the source of all goodness.

Only the Lord can give us the strength needed to accept life as it is, with all its contradictions, frustrations, and disappointments (Apostolic letter Patris Corde of the Holy Father Francis Year of St Joseph 8/12/20).

Committing yourself to pray the seven ‘hours’ of the Divine Office and attending mass seven days a week is a glorious desire, but unrealistic outside of a monastery.  It is a  short-term goal that is setting yourself up for disappointment and failure. Much better is to sit down and honestly look at your situation. For Catholic Christians, though, attending mass weekly is an absolute minimum. 

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8).

Confession

The next thing to increase is the Sacrament of Reconciliation (confession). You will not find a better or quicker way to reach detachment from sin. As you travel on this journey of conversion, working with God’s grace and guidance, you will find that it becomes easier and that you want more: more time with God, more freedom from sin, more knowledge of God. You also will have more: more love, more kindness, more generosity, more compassion. 

Faith is not an act of the will or of the intellect. You don’t think yourself, Christian, though reasoning may be what gets you ‘through the door.’ We are each and all created to become holy. Faith is a gift of grace and we rely on it completely. Holiness is possible when we answer God’s call and let His grace work in us.

Conversion

Conversion in the gospels means a radical turning around of the whole person and a return home. The call to conversion becomes an intense yearning for the return to the Lord and divine friendship. The journey of conversion involves suffering for sins committed, the desire to be free from them, the intention to exclude them from one’s own life forever.

Jesus accompanies us through the events of our lives to help us discover the meaning of the journey, the meaning of everyday life, to give us courage when we are under duress or suffering (Pope Francis, Angelus, Sunday 29 Nov 2020).

Many times Jesus forgave sins as he healed physical illness. And so our Church offers us two sacraments of healing: the sacrament of Penance and the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. The sacrament of Penance is also sometimes called the sacrament of conversion.

The Church provides the sacrament of Penance as an expression of God’s mercy for us. In the early Church once you were baptised you were expected to live the rest of your life without committing any sin.  Later on, in the 2nd Century, you were allowed one slip up, but the reconciliation with the church was a long drawn out process of public penance. We have the Irish missionaries who travelled to Europe in the 7th Century to thank for the private practice of penance and the possibility of repetition that the Church has practiced to this day.

Conversion entails a radical reorientation of one’s desires, thought processes, and actions. It involves an entire personal transformation which will lead to the transformation of society. This is not done in a single moment nor by an individual in isolation. Rather, conversion is a constant striving for holiness that is assisted and sustained by others within a larger faith community.

Every night we can take a few minutes to think back over our day and examine our thoughts, feelings, and actions.  Not to just look at them, but to compare them to the ideal we are striving to match. Again, as John said, ‘Repent’.  Turn again to the Lord and seek his mercy.

This can be a process of purification and growth in spiritual beauty and holiness.  Remember, we are all meant to become saints. Personal holiness is our ultimate goal. Jesus is here, he has conquered and is king. He has told us what to do and the teaching of the Apostles kept in the tradition of the church is always on hand through the liturgy, sacraments, and the person of our Priest. 

Now one year is ending and a new one is beginning. As Christians we are meant to always move forward, working with God’s grace to become worthy of the promises of Christ in order to be with Him in Heaven. Let us all pray for the grace to continue our journey to God’s Kingdom.