This week, I shall use my column to share the third summary of the retreat I have been preaching during the Lenten season.

Each week I remind the readers that the purpose of sharing the summaries is to help people to prepare for Easter especially the homebound.

Review of second summary

After stressing the importance of working at making a good retreat in union with the Spirit, I offered a definition of what being an authentic Christian means.

An authentic Christian is a person who has moved slowly and gradually to a different level of consciousness (mental awareness and alertness) about Christ, a person who believes in Jesus so profoundly that her/his life is shaped by her/his belief. Conversion is therefore not just an internal transformation of self, it is also an expansion of the horizons of a person’s world.

I then began to summarise the steps in the conversion process. I asked the question: “How do we cooperate with the conversion process?” I listed the substance of and also commented on the eight steps in the conversion process.

I stressed that while the pace of the conversion process may vary for each person, each of the steps must be addressed if a person is to have a conversion experience.

In last week’s column, I covered the first six steps in the conversion process.

Third summary

On the third day of retreat, I completed the steps in the conversion process.

7) Authentic conversion requires an undivided heart, an understanding that it is not possible to have it both ways i.e. to love God and yet continue to sin. Luke’s Gospel lists the requirements of being an apostle.

The criteria Jesus uses center around the requirement of discipleship – that absolute surrender to God is alone worthy of serving God. (Lk 9: 57-62) The imagery of verse 62 is powerful: No one who has put his hand to the plough (commitment) yet who is continually looking back (compromise) is fit for discipleship. Vocational perseverance is very dubious in those who look back.

Conversion requires the transformation of life, which is based on the truth Luke teaches.  Surrender to God must be supported in ongoing fashion to remain uncompromised.

8) Conversion is a lifelong spiritual journey. In the opening of the retreat, we considered four senses in which the word conversion is understood in the Church. I stated we would limit ourselves to the last two senses: 8.1) the journey from sin to grace; 8.2) the journey to ongoing initiation in Christ.

As life does not stand still and as relationships do not stand still, neither does the spiritual life or relationship with Christ. In fact, one of the problems many people experience is that they feel trapped by life. The response to such a situation is not just perseverance, but moving beyond “just perseverance” to the growth involved in ongoing initiation to Christ.

The four types of conversion

Having completed the reflection on the meaning of and how to cooperate with the eight steps to conversion, let us conclude our consideration of conversion by giving some attention to the teaching of theologians about four types of conversion.

1) Religious conversion: The desire and thirst in all people for meaning in life and to love and be loved is part of the core of our being and is written into our hearts. As Creator, God understands our nature.

To meet our desires and to quench our thirst, God calls us to relationship. Religious conversion is a total and permanent self surrender to God without conditions, qualifications or reservations. God’s grace enters our lives and enables us to make the renunciations that must precede the “free commitment” required by a relationship with God.

For people who do not understand spirituality or religious conversion, Christianity can appear to be negative or repressive. Not so! Christianity is about the journey to freedom in Christ.

Discipline and self-denial are not ends in themselves. They are the means to an end. They lead to freedom and a deeper form of love. In religious conversion we freely respond to God’s invitation and we place ourselves in God’s hands with trust and joy.

2) Intellectual conversion: New experiences and insights necessitate a change in a person’s perception of reality. Conversion is such an experience. It requires us to reconstruct how we look at God, the world, others and self. The process is called intellectual conversion.

We turn away from idols, false values, false perceptions and false images of God. We turn to the God of Scripture, the God of Revelation and we begin to understand God through Christ.

We recall the teaching of theologians that Christ is “the self-revelation of God.” Slowly, gradually we mature and become aware that we share in the life of the God who created us and sustains us in being.

Our responsibility is to open ourselves to the process of integrating the elements of the turning from/turning to during a life of ongoing conversion.

3) Affective conversion: This aspect of conversion describes the transformation of feelings and emotions in our lives. It deals with a fundamental process of change in which self-interested and individualistic feelings that formerly controlled our lives are changed into self-giving, communally directed feelings that flow from Christian conversion.

In affective conversion, symbols and images play a major role. For example, the symbols and images of Scripture, liturgy and art help motivate us for commitment to the Lord and for mission for the Lord. Symbols and images direct us to the order of charity which is the primary value of the Kingdom.

Affective conversion also gives us insight into the dynamic of attachment/detachment which is a significant element in the spiritual life.

At times, the dynamic shows us that we are not as free as we thought we were from persons, places and things. Attachment becomes a bloc to the call of the Spirit.

At other times, we discover that, with the help of God, we are able to surrender everything to the Lord. We are sufficiently free to respond to the call of the Spirit.

4) Moral conversion: It deals with how we live our lives, the level of decision, behaviour and action. The general principle is: whatever we allow to live in our hearts will eventually show itself.

This principle is the reason why the Church stresses the importance of understanding the moral interconnection of unchristian thoughts which are allowed to strengthen and become unchristian desires which in turn become unchristian actions.

Temptations require a prompt response or they lead to sin. Similar to the other aspects of conversion, moral conversion is an ongoing process in our lives

We are Catholic Christians as a result of the mission the Father gave to the Son and the Holy Spirit. We are Catholic Christians because other believers accepted their share in the mission of the Son and the Spirit and touched our lives.

Now it is our turn. We must feed the conversion process in our lives, repeat the cycle and touch the lives of others.

To Be Continued