Period of Inquiry
Conversion
3. CONVERSION
3a. Convert from everything that separates you from
God," Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" Mt 4:17. "This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel" Mk l:15.
Conversion is the initial demand necessary to enter the Kingdom. First there is an internal change which is accomplished by God as well as a result of each individual's response to God. This internal change thus enables an external change to take place: a change of life, attitudes and actions that project us toward a commitment and involvement with others.
Conversion is a total inner change, a "metanoia." Conversion brings with it repentance and a profound transformation of heart and mind. The purpose of evangelization is to achieve this interior change, a conversion of both the personal and the collective consciences of people; and this exterior change, to convert the activities men and women commit to and engage in, their lives, and their concrete environments (EN 19)
Conversion implies identifying and transforming, through the power of me Gospel the criteria by which we judge the world, our determining values, points of interest, lines of thought, inspirational sources, and the models of life which are m contrast with the Word of God and the project of salvation. (EN 19)
".....what matters is to evangelize man's culture and cultures [...but in a vital way
in depth and right to the very roots]... always taking the person at one's starting-point and always coming back to the relationships of people among themselves and with God." (EN 20).
Conversion travels from the interior to the exterior, from the personal level to the social. It starts within individuals and passes on to social relationships and an explicit relationship with God.
A New Evangelization leads to an integral human advancement to achieve a Christian culture. A new world, one with new and renewed structures, can only be possible with new men and women. We need structures that are more just, more humane, and less oppressive The best structures and the most idealized systems soon become inhuman if the inhuman inclinations of the human heart are not made wholesome, and if those who live in these structures or who rule them do not undergo a conversion (EN 36).
A new world and a new culture are absolutely necessary, but they will never be accomplished if there are no new men and no new creations. Jesus' salvation and the Splits renewing action will make this happen. External change, the change of attitudes, actions and life, mast be a consequence of an internal change.
Conversion means to turn from something so as to turn to something better,
...to leave... so as to enter....; leaving behind, turning your back on... so as to embrace and welcome the true way abandoned during our misguided lives... to accept that we must make a 180º turn to get back on the right track.
Where we choose to go and what we will gain is much more important than where we have come from and what we have left behind. Nobody leaves anything unless there is something better offered. We accept leaving behind and letting go of things because of what we will receive. We return to God. We seek His face. We return to our Father's house
"I have come to rate all as loss in the light of the surpassing knowledge, of my Lord Jesus Christ. For His sake I have forfeited everything:,.. all else Is rubbish..!" (Phil. 3:8'9) From darkness to light. From idols that are mute to a living God. From damnation to salvation. From death to life.
We must place ourselves under the light of the Holy Spirit, and visualize exactly where we are. What specific things should be left behind or cut away What place should be departed from and what should be the new destination? Look to turn from the bad to the good, and from the good to the best. Move from lukewarm and mediocre to fervent? and passionate, from individualism towards a sense of community and service; from a weak giving of yourself to a thorough and total commitment
In the inner silence of my mind and heart, I should allow the Holy Spirit to work, moving me towards the light and the life; which is an encounter with Jesus Christ that will grant me salvation and new life. But in order for this to actually happen, I first need to abandon, walk away from, or turn my back away:
1. FROM ALL SINFULNESS
To sin is to say "no" to God and His love, rejecting His light and wanting to fulfill ourselves without Him. It is to exclude Him and His action as we build the world.
In relational terms, sin is failing to please our Father. It is saddening the Holy Spirit who dwells in us and refusing to become faithful disciples of Christ. This is the authentic biblical meaning of sin.
At the root of all sin is something or someone that we put in the place that belongs to God: lifestyle, material things, people and finally ourselves. In our sinfulness we neglect to bring God into our consciousness, and we are not interested in living our life according to His will.
Grace and sin are not things to be gained or lost. Sin is not only a transgression of the law, but the willful act of turning our back on God. It is rejecting Him as a living being; a living being with whom we have a personal relationship. This relationship is either maintained and intensified, or neglected and weakened to the point of breaking. We understand "grace" to be the loving personal communion with the living God, a gift of Himself. "Sin" then, is the carelessness, the rejection or the willful breaking of that harmonious communion and, as a consequence, separation from God.
In a practical, concrete sense, sin is a conscious, voluntary, and free action or omission against the will of God and His plan. It is a transgression of His law, as manifested in His Word or the law contained
in our own nature. God is always the reference point, even though our actions
and their consequences hurt us, others or creation. We can locate sin in our
thoughts and in the conscious plans we promote and maintain. It is a desire that
is promoted and sustained voluntarily. We find sin in our words, actions or
omissions. It exists, however, only when it has been clearly understood and
consented upon with a sufficient amount of free will.
First, we must examine and review the total orientation and direction of our lives in reference to the Lord:
To what degree our lives are focused on Him. Then we must understand the significance of what our choice to follow Him fully means. Then, and only then, can we review our specific life acts and understand to what degree those acts conform with
our choice to follow the Lord.
It is the Holy Spirit who makes us aware of our sinfulness. He is the one who makes us discover and acknowledge Jesus as the only Savior and His glorified humanity as the Sacrament of Salvation, the first channel and instrument of salvation from God for us.
In the light of the Holy Spirit, therefore, in order to acknowledge our sin, objectively identify our sins 'and subjectively acknowledge ourselves as sinners in need of salvation, we sincerely repent of our rejection of God and confess ourselves as sinners before God. After showing signs of repentance and a willingness to repair and change, then trying sincerely to correct and transform our acts, and having a desire to make amends for damages caused and to reconcile ourselves with our brothers and sisters, we may receive the Sacrament
of of Reconciliation so that in God's name our sins may be forgiven.
Repentance should be sincere and in relationship to God, whom we have offended or rejected. Repentance is not self centered remorse, a guilt complex, or rear of punishment or its consequences. We must make a firm decision to tear ourselves away from sin and distance ourselves from that which enables it.
There is also social shift that exists when we participate in unjust structures, when we take advantage of these structures for our own benefit, and when we choose to do nothing to change or transform them. Sins of omission are committed because we do not invest ourselves
in our civic duties and political fields in order to bring about a just transformation of society and its structures.
Sin becomes social sin depending on the field it affects. Sin always develops from particular individuals. Sin is found in the heart of every person, and its effects and consequences damage all of society:
The economy, politics, culture, education, and the mass media. Social sin also includes those transgressions against society's legitimate laws, such as taxes 2nd transit. It includes damage done against the ecology:
Pollution and/or destruction of the earth, air, water, plants and animal life.
2. FROM ALL RESENTMENTS
"Forgive us... as we forgive those..., not seven but seventy times seven." Because if we do not forgive, we block the forgiveness that God offers us.
"If anyone says my love is fixed on God, yet hates his brother is a liar... The commandment we have from him is this:
Whoever loves God must also love his brother." Jn 4:20-21.
We must turn away from all resentments, hatred and grudges because these feelings impede God's work of salvation in us. Let us express the will to forgive and God will heal our wounds and memories. Let us examine our lives from the beginning and bring to mind all the damages, hurts and injustices we've suffered as a result of the actions of another person. In the quiet of our inner selves, we need to name each person and explicitly offer him or her our forgiveness.
We are not asked to forget, nor to accept as good and valid any unjust act or abuse made against us. What we are asked is to do an act of the will, deliberately deciding to forgive the person who has hurt or wounded us.
3. FROM THE WORKS OF SATAN
The works of Satan are acts which are committed in specific areas that compete with God or for which only God has a valid answer and an authentic and complete solution. These areas include idolatry and every aspect of the
occult, esotericism and superstition.
In the context of evangelization, the rejection of the works of Satan is the requirement for the first conversion. It is a radical requirement that has always been asked of the People of God and in the Church through the Baptismal Rite.
We will speak more in detail in the next talk about this topic, in which there is a lot of ignorance and disorientation.
THE STEPS OF CONVERSION
Conversion consists of four consecutive steps
1. RECOGNITION OF SIN
Only the light of the Holy Spirit can give us a consciousness of sin. Otherwise, that consciousness is reduced to a mere sense of guilt or the simple confrontation of our actions with a list of
sins. We need to invite and invoke Him.
Conversion is the work of the Holy Spirit within us. Only the Spirit can give us a new heart so that we can return to God, "I will allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart." Hosea 2:14
Conversion calls for an objective recognition of specific sins and situations of sin and a subjective recognition of ourselves as sinners in need of salvation. Conversion is realizing that we are
on the outside and on the wrong track, and that we need to rectify the direction of our lives.
We most be conscious of the fact that in this present age all sense of sin, as well as our moral values, have been lost. There seems to be a relativity and subjectivity in all the criteria for morality.
The criteria for morality can be found in God's Word and in the natural law instilled
in us through our own nature. Our guides are the moral teachings of the Magisterium of the Church which defines these two sources of morality for us.
2. REPENTANCE
Even though conversion is the work of God, the sinner answers freely, "I will break away and return to my father" Luke 15:18.
Repentance or contrition includes a sorrowful and painful heart and a hatred of the sin
committed. The definite purpose or repentance is to sin no more. It is returning
home and reuniting with the Father.
Repentance brings a deep pain and sadness at having offended the One whom we love. This is not like the sadness of the world, which brings death. It is instead a sadness that comes from God and leads us to conversion. (see 2 Cor 7:9" 10) Repentance is a resolute will to break away from all situations of sin and a firm resolve to change and reform.
3. CONFESSION OF SIN
We need to recognize and confess explicitly our sinfulness before God (Ezra 9:6-15; Daniel 9: 14-18; Baruch 1:15-19). Ps 106:40-48
"But if we acknowledge our sins, he who is just can be trusted to forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrong I John 1 ;9.
We must also explicitly renounce Satan and ail of his works including every type of the occult, esotericism and superstition, and externally confess our will to renounce and depart from all these sorts of actions.
Also, we must go to a priest so as to receive the expression and ratification of God's forgiveness in the absolution offered with the Sacrament of Reconciliation (see James 5:16 and John 20:23), Having received the prayer of deliverance, we are unbound from all slavery and oppression of the Evil One and from any other form of damage.
4. REPARATION (PENANCE) AND RECONCILIATION
To restore our union of love with God, repentance demands us to repair the damage caused by us to others and reconcile ourselves with them.
"I preached a message of reform and of conversion to God. I urged them to act in conformity with their change of heart." Acts 26:20 (Lk 3:10-14). A good examination of conscience, repentance and a good confession, imply a strong change of the will and fidelity towards God. It should show in our lives in a concrete way every time we have partaken of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
3b. RENOUNCE SATAN AND HIS WORKS
REQUIREMENT FOR CONVERSION
Since the beginning of the Church and the New Testament an integral part of conversion has been the renunciation of Satan and his works. In the first stages of the
Catechumenate and during the Kerygmatic proclamation, new Christians were singly required
to renounce Satan and his works because they entailed sinning against the first commandment. Therefore, we see this renunciation in a!! rites, past and present, including within the most recent Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults released in 1972 (RCIA).
"Works of Satan" means the practice or activity of the occult, esotericism and superstition. They include all literature and objects used in this context, such as amulets and charms.
These "Works of Satan" constitute a grave sin against the first commandment and are a form of idolatry. These works also sin against the second commandment by taking the name of the Lord in vain and using sacred objects in acts that are in opposition to God,
Besides being grave sin, the "Works of Satan" may also bring different forms of slight or serious harm, either temporary or permanent.
In order for there to be sin, a sufficient awareness and free consent must be present. But harm can result even through ignorance, play or curiosity because these are areas susceptible to contamination whether one participates once of often, as a game or out of curiosity. The damage is worse when our awareness is high and when we're involved in it for long periods of time.
Sometimes the result can be both sinful and harmful Other times only harm occurs since knowledge was not present and therefore no sin was committed. However, different
amounts of damage can remain even if the sin has been forgiven.
These damages can be seen in different areas; physical/organic, psychological, moral or spiritual. They may be of varying degrees of gravity and can be temporal or persistent,
These damages can coexist with the grace of God even in those who are virtuous and holy because the active presence of the enemy does not necessarily dwell in the soul but
in the body, through the brain and in the nervous system.
The varied degrees of gravity can range from the occasional disturbance, to oppression and diabolic subjection or possession. Manifest and persistent satanic possession is very rare in Christian countries, but the other degrees frequently can be found in any person who is or has been involved in these areas.
As participants in an evangelization retreat or the Inquiry phase of the
Catechumenate, part of our conversion will be a radical renunciation and breaking away from all the
"Works of Satan " ,all of its practices, activities and objects - even though we may not be aware of having suffered any harm. This renunciation is a systematic requirement for all baptized Christians within the baptismal framework. This is why it cannot be omitted at all in the Kerygmatic Evangelization.
As stated before, to be free from sin requires recognition, repentance, confession and sacramental absolution.
To free ourselves from resentments requires our internal willingness to forgive each person who has offended or hurt us.
To be free of the "Works of Satan" requires that we recognize all of the areas
in which we have been involved. We need to repent and renounce internally with a firm resolve to tear ourselves away from all current and future involvement
in these areas. We then need to externally express that renunciation. We must decide to remove from our possession, and in fact destroy, all literature and objects having to do with
the "Works of Satan." Then we must receive the Prayer of deliverance, as a minor form of exorcism, which is found in the Baptismal Rite of adults.
This renunciation must include all practice, involvement and objects which are related to the occult, esoteric and superstition.
When speaking of the occult, we are referring to the search for knowledge of the unknown or of the future using different means of fortune telling or sorcery such as; astrology and horoscopes, tarot cards, palm reading, and the reading of tea leaves or coffee grounds;, crystal balls and reflecting surfaces; mental telepathy:
Ouija boards; séances and the invocation of the dead, spiritual cults where there is a mixture of spiritism, quackery and Christian rites, ... and every other way in which people presume to acquire this type of knowledge,
Also included is the promotion and search for power through black magic, white magic, witchcraft, sorcery, quackery, curses, and similar things.
When speaking of the esoteric, we are referring to all groups that have secret rituals of initiation such as the
Rosicrucian's, Theosophists and other like groups or clubs.
''When you come into the land which the Lord, your God, is giving you, you shall not learn lo imitate the abominations of the peoples there. Let there not he found among you anyone who immolates his son or daughter in the fire, nor a fortuneteller, soothsayer, charmer, diviner, or caster of spells, nor one who consults ghosts and spirits or seeks oracles from the dead. Anyone who does such things is an abomination to the Lord." Deuteronomy 18:9-12.
There are other areas which are very susceptible (high risk) to damages done by the enemy. These are; mind control transcendental meditation and other practices that pretend to promote mental or
Para-psychological powers or allow others to do the same.
Every one of us should determine which of these areas or practices we've been involved in, recognize that they are in opposition to God and His presence in us, and decide to break away from them permanently so that we can receive forgiveness and deliverance from God. In this way we will be able to live the new Life that God gives
us so that the authentic power of God, which is the Holy Spirit, can be manifested
in us.
All presence of evil spirits is absolutely incompatible with the presence and the action of the Holy Spirit. When we try
to promote the psychic powers it gets in the way of the action of the Holy Spirit in us and through us.
SUPPLEMENTARY
READ 11 How does
Jesus make us children of God?
Jesus is the Son of God. And he makes us children of God by uniting us to
himself. He does this by offering us his Spirit who gave him his own power.
Before Jesus began his work, Luke tells us: "Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus
left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit through the wilderness" (Luke 4:1).
In the public ministry of Jesus we can only glimpse the Holy Spirit. The true
power of the Spirit was fully revealed only when Jesus rose from the dead.
Jesus' miracles—when, for example, he brought the dead Lazarus from the
tomb—prepare us for the outpouring of he Holy Spirit on all humankind after the
Resurrection.
It is through faith, the gift of the Holy Spirit, that we become the children of
God. Jesus could only work where there was faith. To the woman who said to
herself. "If I can touch even his clothes . . . shall be well again," Jesus said
that her faith had restored her to health (see Mark 7:25-34).
Am I a "picture" person or a "drama" person? This is the question the American
writer Raymond Nogar feels all of us should ask before we ever turn our
attention to the doctrine of the Trinity.
He describes a "picture" person as someone who prefers to view the Gospel from
a safe distance, as one would view Michelangelo's magnificent paintings on the
ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. The "drama" person, on the other hand, is
no mere spectator. He is caught up person ally in the drama of Jesus' death and
Resurrection just as a whole audience can become completely engrossed in a play
or film.
True Christians are "drama" persons. They are not content to be mere
spectators but desperately want to be caught up and involved in the life of God.
So when Jesus tells us of a Father, Son, and Holy Spirit within the Godhead, we
must be careful not to brush aside the implications of all this as mere abstract
theology. If we believe in God and want to be involved with him, it is only
natural that we should want to know everything we can about him. "Nothing,"
writes Frank Sheed. "could be less abstract than the reason for everything,
nothing more relevant."
We have spent some time examining how Jesus gradually unveiled the mystery of
God to his followers. Just what it meant to them; when he spoke of a Father and
Son within the Godhead, two Persons each knowing and loving himself for himself
we do not know. Probably they could not make head or tail of it. But in
Matthew's account of this revelation (11:25-30) we are told how after it Jesus
himself gave us some indication of just what involvement with God would mean for
us. "Come to me, all you who labor and are overburdened, and I will give you
rest."
Jesus repeatedly told his followers that he had come from the Father to bring
the world to the Father. And here we have his invitation to become "drama"
persons: to allow ourselves to be drawn into the love which he and the Father
share.
When Christ began to speak of this love, his disciples were in for yet another
surprise. He told them of a third Person in the Godhead whom he called the
Spirit. This is the Holy Spirit whom the Church in her ordinary teaching, in her
creeds, and in her solemn declarations—such as the First Council of
Constantinople in 381 — de scribes as the Love which proceeds from the Father
and the Son.
This love is a distinct Person who draws us into the very life of God. This is
the Love who overshadowed Mary. And this is the Love who overshadows the Church,
making us into "other Christs," children of the Father. "If anyone loves me,"
Jesus said, "my Father will love him and we shall come to him and make our home
with him" (John 14:23). This is what it means to be children of God. This is why
we are all able to shoulder the burden of Christ himself and find it easy and
light.
Now do the self-correcting quiz# 11:
FOR YOUR NOTEBOOK
Summary: All must acknowledge, before God the condition of one's heart in all areas of life. Conversion begins anew each time we examine God's standards for an abundant life against the standards we are living.:
Do these standards match? If not. renouncing these actions/thoughts/passions. etc. not rooted in God's nature is the work of conversion. Returning to
God insists on a change in the course we are on, to change directions, to go another way -- GOD's WAY.
In your Bible: mark all the passages mentioned in the above article with a green color (i.e. the color of hope, since salvation can be ours through conversion.)
1. What does conversion mean to you?
2. How have you discovered that God can set you free from the power of Satan? Give some examples.
3. How has the act of forgiveness affected your life by either forgiving or being forgiven?
4. What are the weapons God has given you to defeat Satan?