There is nothing ordinary about responding to the call of
Christ.
Our readings this Sunday all remind us that the process of
conversion cannot be a one-time deal, but must instead be an ongoing, radical
experience: God calls us to turn to God daily! Take the people of Ninevah, for
instance. Jonah is sent to call them to
repentance and conversion: Forty days more and Ninevah shall be
destroyed, he tells them, and the people respond by turning from their evil way. Their
change of heart is practically immediate, their acceptance of the call to
conversion radical in its focus. Even
Jonah is shocked (and even displeased!) by their sudden change of heart. But God is abounding in kindness, and even Jonah must come to accept the
radical conversion of a people he believed to be too evil to love God.
The fishermen Jesus meets in Mark’s Gospel are not evil men,
yet they, too, are called by Jesus to radical conversion: Come
after me, and I will make you fishers of men, he tells them. In an instant, their lives are redefined, as
they leave their boats and follow Jesus, abandoning their livelihood and even
their families to follow a man whose fundamental message is clear: The
kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and
believe in the Gospel. After Jesus’
death and resurrection, Paul likewise calls the Corinthians to radical
conversion: time is running out, he tells them, so they must live life
differently than before, because of the Gospel, the Good News Jesus came to
proclaim. Like the Corinthians, we are
called to live as though we embraced the fullness of all God has give us, daily, to live for the love God has
revealed, focused on the fullness of life that is the promise, daily.
It is the way or path celebrated in Psalm 25: Your
ways, O Lord, make known to me, Teach me your paths… To be guided in God’s truth is to live life
humbly, giving constant praise to God for all that God grants us daily: compassion,
love, kindness, and goodness.
The Lord calls us to daily, radical conversion.
What keeps us from responding now,
profoundly, fully, entirely?
This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture class.
Image source: Wordle
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