Friday, March 3, 2023

 Friday of the fourth Week of Lent

(Ezekiel 18:21-28; Matthew 5:21-26)

An alcoholic who has long been on the wagon, speaks gratefully of his life.  He not only made a radical change for the good but has also helped others.  He serves as an Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor who assists other alcoholics through the painful process of conversion.  This is what the readings today as well as the season of Lent is about.

In the first reading Ezekiel says that God delights in conversion.  No matter what their sins are, Ezekiel says, the future of the converted is bright.  In the gospel Jesus portrays a conversion.  Someone is on the way to make a peace offering to God.  Then he remembers that he has offended a neighbor.  Since there is no peace with God unless one seeks forgiveness for past sins, the offender must do that first.

Many have difficulty saying, “I’m sorry.” A popular movie of the 1960’s said that apologies did not even matter where love reigns.  That does not seem right.  Apology for having offended another is an important step on the way to conversion.  We are to say it with words and, more importantly, act it out in our lives.

Friday, March 11, 2022

 Friday of the First Week of Lent

(Ezekiel 18:21-28; Matthew 5:20-26)

So many people remain stuck in their vices that stories of conversions seem hard to come by.  Who knows many individuals who lived for years lives in deceit but now are model Christians?  However, every Alcoholics Anonymous group can give hundreds of examples.  The number of conversion stories becomes gigantic with the one hundred three thousand AA groups in the world today.

Both Scripture readings speak of the need for conversion.  The Lord says in Ezekiel that when one converts, past sins are forgotten.  The converted person does not have to worry about her debts, at least to the Lord.  In the gospel Jesus implores sinners to reconcile with those they have offended.  If not, he warns, they will pay a heavy price.

Lent is a time of conversion.  We make amends.  We start anew.  One writer notes how many families are guilty of willful neglect by seldom eating together. He suggests that the family meal would serve as a better Lenten practice than giving up desserts.  We should create at least one new habit each Lent that would move us out of a sinful way.

Friday, October 1, 2021

 Memorial of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus

(Baruch 1:15-22; Luke 10:13-16)

In today’s gospel Jesus calls for the repentance of two towns.  He wants Chorazin and Bethsaida to pay more attention to his message of God’s love.  It is not that these places were notoriously bad.  Jesus calls everyone, even saints, to conversion.  Even St. Therese of Lisieux has a story of a change of heart and mind.

Therese pinpoints her conversion as occurring on Christmas when she was thirteen years old.  She was the youngest of nine children with two sisters who had entered the Carmel before her.  She may have been pampered as a child, but she also prayed devoutly.  Coming home from midnight Mass, her father complained about the festivities prepared for her.  Before her conversion, she would have been crushed by the remark but no longer.  She wrote: “Therese was different now; Jesus had changed her heart.”  Two years later she joined her sisters at the local Carmel.

We should hear Jesus’ call to continual conversion and implement it in our lives.  Prayer will help.  If we experience a need to be less compulsive and more attentive to what we are doing, we need to pray for self-control and understanding.  Of course, praying does not obviate the need for effort.  After prayer we will find ourselves with more peace because we will be closer to the Lord.

Wednesday, February 24, 2021

 Wednesday of the First Week of Lent

(Jonah 3:1-10; Luke 11:29-32)

The Book of the Prophet Jonah has become one of the most popular readings of the Old Testament.  For one thing it has a short, fascinating narrative.  For another, it highlights the contemporary value of tolerance for other peoples.  Also, as today’s gospel relates, Jesus uses the story to teach about his own mission.

Jesus refers to the great conversion that takes place with Jonah’s preaching.  A city-state, perhaps as large and as notorious as Mexico City today, is imagined.  Jonah might have been a reluctant preacher, but evidently his words had great power.  He inspired everyone to change heart and conform to God’s ways.  There are no historical records that such universal repentance ever took place in Nineveh or anywhere else.  Nevertheless, Jesus knows that his preaching is even stronger than the heralded Jonah’s.  He expects a conversion in Israel like Nineveh’s in the story of Jonah.

Repentance or conversion translate the Greek word metanoia.  It literally means a change of mind.  But as today’s psalm relates, conversion has more to do with a change of heart.  The mind actively inquires, probes. and calculates.  The heart, on the other hand, passively is moved by what impresses itself on it.  True conversion implies that our hearts are no longer moved by sex, fame, or fortune.  Rather, converted hearts feel grateful for God’s goodness and take pity on those living in misery.

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

(Daniel 3:14-20.91-92.95; John 8:31-42)

According to a leading member of the pro-life movement, Kristin Turner was a feminist, pro-choice college student.  One day she was looking at pro-life videos for ammunition to defend the abortion alternative.  Watching them, however, made her realize the right to life of unborn babies. Now, it is reported, she has formed a pro-life group at her college.  We see a similar conversion taking place in today’s first reading and a lack of conversion in the gospel.

The king is furious with the three young Israelites for not following his command to worship himself.  Because they remain loyal to the God of Israel, the king has them put into a red-hot furnace.  But the heat does not scorch the three; rather, they thrive in the midst of the flames.  The king soon recognizes that the God of Israel is the only true God.  In the gospel Jesus tries to convince the Jews of God’s such great love for the world that he has sent it His Son.  But the Jews cannot see Jesus as a gift from God who frees them from the onus of the law.  They prefer to look at him as a menace to their concern that the people stay in line.

Many today also reject Jesus as Lord.  They may admire some of his teachings but are selective about what they believe.  They do not recognize that his selfless love will free them from constantly claiming rights and privileges.  When we accept his love for us and practice it among others, we become much like Jesus. We become daughters and sons of the Father.

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Tuesday of the Third Week of Advent

(Zephaniah 3:1-2.9-13; Matthew 21:29-32)

The young woman wrote of her conversion.  While in the marines, she led a promiscuous life.  Then she changed.  She embraced the faith of her childhood and now lives it in both letter and spirit.  She experienced a conversion of the type that both readings today relate. 

The prophet Zephaniah speaks of a people who have been purged of braggarts.  They sit humble and lowly knowing both their sins and God’s forgiveness.  In the gospel Jesus mentions the marvelous conversions that John the Baptist has made.  Even prostitutes have changed their ways because of John’s preaching.

As we await the coming of the Messiah, we look for such profound change in our midst.  We must remember that it does not necessarily take place in one great step.  Rather, very often such a change is gradual and incremental.  In any case, it deserves our support and consideration.  We should be asking ourselves how we might similarly advance in virtue so to welcome the Lord.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Wednesday of the First Week of Lent

(Jonas 3:1-10; Luke 11:29-32)

Religious people have a way of speaking about converts that seems to betray the biblical meaning. Converts are those people who change their religious affiliation. They may have been raised Methodists and have become Catholics. Or they may have been raised Catholics and have become Muslims. The readings today offer a deeper sense of the word.

Although neither the Old Testament nor the gospel reading actually uses “convert” or “conversion,” both have it in mind when they speak of people changing their wicked ways and repenting. Conversion is a change of heart, a new way of living. Alcoholics Anonymous is an association of converts pinning their hopes for sobriety on the grace of God working through the company of fellow travelers. Francis of Assisi was a convert from a bourgeois lifestyle to blessed poverty. So was Ignatius of Loyola who gave up the cavalier life of a soldier to become the Lord’s servant.

During Lent all Christians are called to conversion. But we often find it difficult to recognize how this will take place. It is not that the changes needed are too large to tackle. Rather they seem often too small to bother with. To overcome this obstacle we should isolate one area that calls for a change. For example, we will no longer curse while driving. Then we should describe the behavior that might replace the bad habit. For example, we will offer a short prayer instead of ranting. Finally we have to apply the resolution to the vice daily, and we are likely to see conversion happening faster than we thought possible.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul the Apostle

(Acts 22:3-16; Mark 16:15-18)

Ending the Week of Christian Unity on the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul may give the impression that Orthodox, Protestant, and Catholic Christians hope to convert one another. But this, of course, is not at issue in the ecumenical project. The occasion is nevertheless appropriate because all people must undergo continual conversion if they are to become holy. The Shaker song “Tis a Gift to Be Simple” expresses this necessity well: “… by turning, turning we come round right.”

Paul’s life underwent various conversions. The most dramatic turning is recorded in today’s first reading where Paul is changed from a zealous Jew to a radical Christian. Another turning point comes with the catastrophe of trying to preach logically to the Athenians at the Areopagus. Rebuffed, he decides that from then on, he will preach only Christ crucified. Perhaps another conversion takes place as Paul stops preaching to Jews in synagogues and starts talking to pagan clients as he plies his tent making trade.

Most of us would do well to attempt the following simple conversion. Rather than refrain from talking about religion among friends and family because of the differences that the topic arouses, we should declare what God has done in our lives and ask our associates to tell about their faith experiences. Also, sharing prayer as we break bread and perhaps again at the end of an evening will weave webs of mutual respect and, with God’s grace, eventual unity.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Friday of the Second Week in Advent

(Isaiah 48:17-19; Matthew 11:16-19)

It is curious to hear people making excuses for not exercising daily. They say that early in the morning they are not ready to move their bodies and that later in the day they are too busy. Or that they are too cold in the morning and too tired in the evening. Doctors, no doubt, wonder if this kind of patient really wants good health.

Jesus feels the frustration of doctors in the gospel passage today. He sounds amazed that the people refuse to repent despite the testimony of God’s best preachers. John, who warned the people to repent or face God’s wrath, was rejected because he lived on grasshoppers and honey. Then Jesus, who preached a similar message of repentance but for the motive of sharing in God’s goodness, is repudiated for eating and drinking with everyone.

We are required to repent and our repentance must be on-going. Perhaps it is more helpful to use the word conversion. The twentieth century theologian Bernard Lonergan wrote of the need for ever deeper conversion. He says that we convert intellectually by knowing ever more deeply through experiencing, understanding, judging, and believing. Then we convert morally by calling good not what satisfies but what corresponds to true value. Finally, we convert religiously by falling in love as God loves which, we may say, is the full realization of sanctifying grace.

Homilette for Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter

(Acts 16:22-34; John 16:5-11)

The pious story of how Paul and Silas save the jailer from self-destruction almost misses the point that the jailer becomes Paul’s first convert in Europe. Philippi is Paul’s initial stop on the new continent. He has spoken with the women at the riverside but these are Jews with a definite belief in God. The jailer, however, is presumably a pagan who comes to know God through the testimony of the two missionaries. For this reason the passage ends by stating that the jailer and his household “come to faith in God.”

Still, most likely Paul is not the first missionary on European soil. We know that he will write to an established church in Rome only six to eight years later. Yet his work in Philippi is historic because it chronicles the inexorable movement of the Holy Spirit to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. We see this progress continuing today with the growth of the Church in Africa and Asia. We might also find the Spirit at work in ourselves converting all our thoughts and desires to what is truly good and holy.

Homilette for April 11, 2008

Memorial of Saint Stanislaus, bishop and martyr

(Acts 9:1-10)

With the jubilee year of St. Paul fast approaching, we can reflect for a few minutes on his conversion. Of course, the reading from Acts today tells its story. But today’s reading is just one of four accounts the New Testament gives of the event. Paul himself writes about it in the Letter to the Galatians which must be considered the most reliable source. The two other accounts are taken from speeches of Paul also recorded in Acts. One interesting note is that none of the four accounts mentions that Paul was knocked off a horse on the way to Damascus. That detail probably comes from a painter’s depiction of the conversion. A more curious element is the light which supposedly blinded Paul.

Did Paul actually see a light or is this reference a metaphor meaning that Paul came to know the truth? In Galatians Paul does not tell of any light. He only says that God revealed His Son to him. This reference indicates a vision of the resurrected Jesus which Paul twice claims he had in his first letter to the Corinthians. Perhaps Jesus appeared to Paul wrapped in light. Matthew describes Jesus in this way when he describes the Transfiguration which is traditionally interpreted as a glimpse of Jesus’ future resurrection.

At the Easter Vigil services this year Pope Benedict baptized Magdi Allam, a 55 year-old Italian journalist who was raised a Muslim. In a letter to the newspaper of which he is deputy director, Mr. Allam wrote of his conversion as “finally (seeing) the light.” The journalist went on to say that he received death threats for turning to Christ just as Paul did. Reading the letter, we get the idea that significant forces within Islam are intent on terrorizing people into accepting what they cannot in conscience believe. Paul, of course, never evangelized in this way although in history other men did so in the name of Christ. As Christians seeing the light have apologized for the sin of fanaticism among ancestors, we can pray that the light of respect and peace penetrate the consciousness of all Muslim brothers and sisters.

Homilette for January 25, 2008

Friday, Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, Apostle

(Mark 16:15-18)

Did Paul actually convert? The question sounds absurd on this feast of his conversion, but some students of the Bible have asked it seriously. They note that there is no radical change in Paul’s behavior. He goes from a zealous promotion of the Jewish Law to a zealous promotion of the Jesus Christ. In his letters Paul does not repudiate his Jewish roots but indicates that his avidness for the Jewish Law has brought him advantages. He also writes to the Philippians that whatever gains he has achieved for his efforts as a Jew, they are nothing in comparison with knowing Jesus Christ.

Paul does nothing half-heartedly. He gives himself over completely to his goal. For this reason he is capable of accomplishing so much. He not only fulfills the Jesus' mandate to proclaim the gospel to every creature, but also encourages the various communities he has evangelized with sound pastoral letters. He is the consummate activist whose life witnesses completely to Christ and rightly terminates in martyrdom. He will provide us all we need to follow him. And he will lead us to happiness.



Such a model may scare us. “Do I really want to give myself over so completely?” we may ask ourselves. We should keep in mind two considerations when we ask the question. First, Christ does not call most of us to put our heads on the chopping block. Still, we need to get serious about our worship of God and our care for one another. Second, it is Christ who calls each of us by name as sure as he calls, “Saul, Saul,” in the first reading today. He is no mere human being, but the Son of God, our beginning and our end.

Homilette for January 14, 2008

Monday of the First Week of Ordinary Time

(Mark 1:14-20)

In a recent book evaluating the great Catholics theologians of the twentieth century, the author reserves the highest praise for the Canadian Jesuit Bernard Lonergan. Fr. Lonergan’s Method in Theology not only contains keen theological insights; it also answers modern philosophy’s challenges to the theological enterprise. For Lonergan the concept of conversion that Jesus has in mind when he calls for repentance in the gospel today is as basic to writing theology as it is to living the Christian life.

We might hear the call to repentance as meant for other people. After all, we are already in church when the gospel passage is read. But, as Bernard Lonergan would say, conversion or repentance is a life-long process that every person must strive for in order to experience the Kingdom of God. All of us continually have to examine the principles by which we live, ask ourselves where we fail to measure up to the standards that God has set, ask forgiveness for any harm that living by the old principles has caused, and then amend our lives to incorporate the gospel. As extended as this list is, true conversion is even more challenging because it means going against established routine. But, of course, the happiness of the Kingdom provides the necessary incentive and the Spirit of Jesus, the extraordinary means to take up the quest.

To achieve full repentance religious have formed the habit of frequent participation in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. They seriously look at their lives once a month or even once a week. They note where they have strayed from the gospel values that they have learned. And they confess these sins with the firm resolve not to fall again. This practice is not the reserve for those who have vowed themselves to a religious community. It is the model for all Christians who take their faith seriously.

Homilette for Thursday, November 8, 2007

Thursday, XXI Week of Ordinary Time

(Luke 15:1-10)

Dominicans tell a story about St. Dominic that corresponds in a way to the gospel today. Once when Dominic was traveling in southern France, he stopped at an inn whose keeper was an Albigensian heretic. Dominic engaged him in a discussion that lasted the whole night. In the morning the innkeeper was ready to convert to orthodox Christianity. The story indicates how difficult it is to turn one who has defied the Church back to the faith.

Certainly Jesus has as large a challenge when preaching to tax collectors and sinners. Yet he seems to change their hearts with all the facility of a potter molding clay. Evidently the Pharisees are scandalized by his associating with these people. But knowing the duplicity of our own hearts, we may suggest that they also resented Jesus for his success. After all, if he was bringing back people from contempt of religion to religious observance, there is certainly Scriptural precedent to rejoice. But either they thought the conversions insincere or, more likely, they could not tolerate Jesus accomplishing such difficult transformations. So they find reasons to undermine his efforts.

We must take care not to give in to envy of others’ successes. We might criticize the achievement of the head salesperson by saying that her territory is easier than ours. We might carp at the “teacher of the year” by saying that he concentrated too much on test scores. Perhaps we have a point, but it is also possible that another has more talent than we or worked harder than we. We should be ready to congratulate the person and to thank God for the benefits her work attained for others.

Homilette for Thursday, November 4, 2007

Memorial of St. Francis Assisi

(Matthew 11:25-30)

In 1219 Francis of Assisi joined the Fifth Crusade. He traveled to Egypt where the Christian army was preparing to attack the Muslim forces. But Francis did not join the battle. His intention was to convert the Muslims to Christ. After the Christian armies suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Malik al-Kamil, the Sultan of Egypt, Francis seized his opportunity. He sauntered over to the Muslim camp asking to see the Sultan. Evidently, Malik took Francis as a deserter who wanted to convert to Islam and granted him an audience.

The Sultan challenged the friar to walk on the image of a cross woven into a carpet. In some circles this was considered a desecration of Christianity’s most sacred image. Francis, however, did not possess a scrupulous conscience. He walked on the cross reminding the Sultan that there were two other crosses raised on Golgotha and he was only trampling the cross of the “bad thief.” Then Francis challenged the Sultan. If he walked over burning coals unharmed, the Sultan and his people would have to convert to Christianity. At this the Sultan demurred saying that if he converted to Christianity, both he and Francis would be massacred.

The encounter with the Sultan evidently had an effect on Francis. When his friars established the norms for missionary activity among Muslims, Francis insisted that they prohibit any attempt to use weapons as a means of conversion. Nor were they to taunt Muslims into making martyrs of them. Rather, either they were to subject themselves to their adversaries as a model of Christ’s forbearance or they were to proclaim the gospel openly but without any demonstration of force.

We should understand that when we look at St. Francis of Assisi, we see an image of Christ, the image of God. Because he took Jesus literally -- shouldering Jesus’ yoke and learning from him, the people of his age recognized him as a “new Christ.” Christ himself seems to have confirmed this likeness by transferring to him the wounds of his crucifixion. In the gospel today Jesus also says, “I am gentle and humble of heart.” He will not attack others but recognizes the dignity of all human beings. So Francis did not promote battling Christianity’s enemies but dialoguing with them so that they might see the virtues of Christ.