As I stated in last week’s column, I plan to share a summary of the Lenten Retreats I am giving this year in a parish, on TCN and as mornings of Recollection in Religious Communities.

My purpose in providing the summaries is to help the readers of my column, in a small way, to prepare for the celebration of Easter.

Review of first summary

1) There is nothing automatic about making a retreat. Just being at the retreat is not enough. We must make a two-fold decision. We must: 1.1-Ask the Spirit to enable us to concentrate on God through prayer, quiet, reflective reading and dialogue; 1.2-Allow the Spirit to help us examine our relationship with God, others and self.

2) On the first day we began to concentrate on the theme of conversion. We understood conversion in four senses and limited ourselves to the last two meanings: 2.1 – conversion as the movement from sin to grace; 2.2 – conversion as ongoing initiation in Christ

3) The response to the call for a fundamental change of heart means that a person accepts Jesus as the Christ and centers her/his life around Jesus and the values of the Kingdom he proclaimed. The response involves a change of convictions and an ethical shift in our lives which includes involvement in social and political structures.

4) Conversion is related to the personal encounter we have had with Jesus. This encounter makes our faith come alive. Without the personal encounter, the importance of which is continually stressed by Pope Benedict XVI, the influence of faith tends to be marginal.

5) The Genesis question, “Where are you?” leads to other questions: Where are you on your life journey? Where are you on your journey to holiness? As we answer those questions we must remember that spiritual denial is just as dangerous as psychological denial. During a retreat we must do our best to deal with the truth: the truth taught by Jesus and the truth about ourselves.

Second summary

The call to conversion tells us that a turning from sin is not enough. A total reorientation of one’s life is required. Let us try to understand what that total reorientation looks like by examining a descriptive definition of a Christian.

An authentic Christian is a person who has moved slowly and gradually to a different level of consciousness (mental awareness and alertness), a person who believes in Jesus so profoundly that her/his life is shaped by her/his belief.

Faith and personal relationship with Christ set the horizons of a person’s interest and knowledge. For example, what was not even noticed before (Confer Luke 16: 19-31) now comes into sharp focus. What was a low priority before e.g. the environment now becomes a high priority e.g. stewardship of the environment.

Faith is powerful! Conversion is not just an internal transformation of self. It is also an expansion of the horizons of a person’s world. 

Cooperation with the conversion process

An obvious and personal question is how do we cooperate with the conversion process? In answering the question, we must remember that while the pace of conversion will vary for different people, the process is always the same. Too many people take the process for granted. It must be given proper attention.

The process has these steps:

1) The person must have a desire to respond to the love with which the Father has spoken to us in Christ. What God did for us from the Incarnation to the Ascension was truly extraordinary. It must be reflected on, prayed over and in that way appreciated.

2) There must be a sustained openness to the message of salvation. Too many people hear the message and the invitation it contains but they respond either with a ‘no’ or a ‘not yet.’

3) There must be a response to the presence of the Spirit that the Father gives us in and through Christ. Our faith is not alive unless we say yes to the Spirit: mind and heart.

It is important to note that the first three steps in the process may not be explicitly spiritual initially. They may simply be the result of the answers people, who were searching for meaning in their lives, heard to the Genesis question: Where are you? Where are you on your life’s journey? Where are you on your journey to holiness?

The famous Greek word metanoia means to change one’s mind/heart and to regret. It translates the Hebrew concept of making an about face after discovering that one has been traveling in the wrong direction. In other words, the call to conversion is a call to turn from sin (the wrong direction in life) and a turn to God (the right direction in life). Each turn is essential in the process.

4) During the conversion process, there are signs that the call to conversion is taking root in our lives. The signs of conversion acceptance are two-fold: 4.1 – We begin to find the Christian story in the Scriptures is irresistible. We begin to live joyfully in relationship with God.

We begin to find a new level of meaning in our lives; 4.2 – We begin to live in Christian relationship with others not because we like them necessarily, but because our love for God compels us to love others.

5) Conversion of heart is not only the principal expression of the call, it is the image of a conversion spirituality that is not primarily intellectual or action oriented.

Conversion of heart is all about having a loving relationship (not a relationship of fear) with God and with others. The teaching of the prophets applies here: “rend your heart not your garments.” Externalism only is also condemned in the Gospels Conversion of heart is not only biblical, it is also very human. It involves the entire self: body and spirit, mind and emotions.

6) Repentance is a key element in the conversion process. God’s readiness to forgive is only limited by a lack of repentance. The block to repentance is the attitude of self -righteousness that characterised the Scribes and Pharisees. It breeds arrogance before God.

Repentance itself is not a simple process. Authentic repentance requires us to rise above denial, whether cultural or personal or both. Denial tries to convince us that the thoughts, desires and actions that conflict with Gospel values are not objectively sinful. Denial contributes to the ability of living our lives as if God did not exist.

Authentic repentance also requires the confrontation with the sinful habits in our lives that can be very powerful and controlling. These habits can also be discouraging for those who are sincerely trying to repent. They can appear to be so powerful to the person that repentance and change seem impossible.

The experience of the Church is that persevering prayer, spiritual direction and humble patience can restore hope to those who are struggling with the issue of repentance.

To be continued next week.