All Christians, whatever their status, secular of ecclesiastical, are permanently called to the dynamism of their conversion in which there are no privileges or respect for persons, and which radically depends on our response to the call of Christ. This response conditions every human and ecclesial project and is the only authentic verification of any commitment….
We are not always aware of the path of conversion, or of its unique dynamism. Christ does not call us only once during our lives. We receive many calls. Each one is more demanding than the last and is part of the great crises of our human-Christian growth. Conversion is a process that calls us to a radical evangelical life in our “world” in order to live the exodus of our faith and to follow the Lord.” (pp. 2-4)
Reflection
Pope Francis’ The Joy of the Gospel #264
Personal encounter with the Saving Love of Jesus
“The primary reason for evangelizing is the love of Jesus which we have received, the experience of salvation which urges us to ever greater love of him. What kind of love would not feel the need to speak of the beloved, to point him out, to make him known? If we do not feel an intense desire to share this love, we need to pray insistently that he will once more touch our hearts. We need to implore his grace daily, asking him to open our cold hearts and shake up our lukewarm and superficial existence. Standing before him with open hearts, letting him look at us, we see that gaze of love which Nathaniel glimpsed on the day when Jesus said to him: “I saw you under the fig tree.” (John 1:48) How good it is to stand before a crucifix or on our knees before the Blessed Sacrament and simply to be in his presence? How much good it does us when he once more touches our lives and impels us to share his new life! What happens is that we speak of what “we have seen and heard” (1John 1:3). The best incentive for sharing the Gospel comes from contemplating it with love, lingering over its pages and reading it with the heart. If we approach it in this way, its beauty will amaze and constantly excite us. But if this to come about, we need to recover a contemplative spirit which can help us to realize ever anew that we have been entrusted with a treasure which makes us more human and helps us to lead a new life. There is nothing more precious which we can give to others.”
“The primary reason for evangelizing is the love of Jesus which we have received, the experience of salvation which urges us to ever greater love of him. What kind of love would not feel the need to speak of the beloved, to point him out, to make him known? If we do not feel an intense desire to share this love, we need to pray insistently that he will once more touch our hearts. We need to implore his grace daily, asking him to open our cold hearts and shake up our lukewarm and superficial existence. Standing before him with open hearts, letting him look at us, we see that gaze of love which Nathaniel glimpsed on the day when Jesus said to him: “I saw you under the fig tree.” (John 1:48) How good it is to stand before a crucifix or on our knees before the Blessed Sacrament and simply to be in his presence? How much good it does us when he once more touches our lives and impels us to share his new life! What happens is that we speak of what “we have seen and heard” (1John 1:3). The best incentive for sharing the Gospel comes from contemplating it with love, lingering over its pages and reading it with the heart. If we approach it in this way, its beauty will amaze and constantly excite us. But if this to come about, we need to recover a contemplative spirit which can help us to realize ever anew that we have been entrusted with a treasure which makes us more human and helps us to lead a new life. There is nothing more precious which we can give to others.”
My Reflection:
All human beings want to be happy. Finding happiness is the great story of every human life. The human heart is wired for that. All the software and hardware that drive the heart are captured in the longings and searching that are the matter of the human saga. The immediate goal for every action in some way leads to the pursuit for happiness. All the questions of life arise out of this quest for happiness.
The universal human experience is that we never have complete and lasting satisfaction. All of us eventually come up empty. It all passes.
The heart was made for God and only God will offer the final and lasting satisfaction. We slowly, if ever, grasp this significance of the ultimate finality that is our mortality. We need to go through a series of conversions that Jesus proposed when he said in so many different ways: to save our life we need to lose it.
In these transformations of our mind and heart, we purify and renew our desires and longings. A sense of direction emerges. The correct path allows God to come into focus as the goal of the heart’s desire by transforming it.
These continual openings in our life are a call to conversion. They may be the result of some minor event or major crisis. Maybe it is a move or a conversation with a good friend, a book or sermon. In the end, they all are the grace of God calling us to new and expanded horizons within our heart. Conversion is making new space for God.
In this process, the word of God holds a place of privilege. We should grow in our love and commitment to prayerfully read God’s word. We need to measure our life against the perspectives of God’s word. This word is usually the Bible but it can be any of our experiences in life. These calls to conversion all have in common the Gospel plea “to lead you where you don’t want to go.” (John 21:18)
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