A Reflection on Conversion

 

En lieu of a sermon by me on the evil of Big Ag and our poisoned food supply, here's a reflection on John 6 by an old friend. He's a retired Anglican priest and onetime Oxford Blue (pistol).

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. John 6:44

This verse from the Gospel for today has me thinking about conversion. I believe passionately in the need for personal conversion. It is a personal choice to follow Jesus. It is a personal choice to accept his atoning sacrifice on the Cross for the sin of the whole world. It is a personal choice to serve God in this world. Nobody just drifts into the Kingdom of God. The verse above is clear; it is God who has taken the initiative.

That initiative of God is to “draw” a person to Christ. It is God the Holy Spirit who “draws” us to consider Jesus Christ as the Incarnate Son, the “perfect sacrifice for the sin of the whole world.” It is God who “draws” us. We are then personally called to respond. Sadly, most will go their own way. Remember the rich young man? “Jesus showed love to him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me. But he was deeply dismayed by these words, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property.” (Mark 10:21-22)

I have experienced this “drawing” since I was young. I found that I wanted to be around people of faith. The Bible seemed always to speak to me. I loved worship in chapel at school. The Psalms and hymns spoke to me. I have always had a yearning to get closer to God. I believe I was being “drawn” and found ways to respond. That is even more so since I heard a clear call to the priesthood in 1967, at a Billy Graham Crusade in London. However, the “drawing” was, in retrospect, evident much earlier. In my opinion the key is how we respond. Do we say “yes” or do we turn away?

Conversion is a gift of Grace. As one who has found Jesus and the Gospel completely irresistible, I am amazed how many respond negatively to Jesus. Our sinfulness and need of God, our need of a savior, seem to me to be incontrovertible. At the end of John 6 we will read “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.” (John 6:66) The twelve disciples did not reject Jesus, though one would go on to betray him.

Conversion is also a process of responding every day to God who “draws” us.  As followers of Jesus, we are offered constantly, daily, the choice to follow or not to follow, Jesus.

I pray for people to follow Jesus. God is always calling – calling each of us, all of us. Come, follow me, says Jesus. May we all hear that call of God amidst the noise of this world.

In his irresistible love, Fr Ian

 

I was moved by that and hope you find it helpful,

LSP

Walk In The Light

 

…his garments became glistening, intensely white, as no fuller on earth could bleach them. (Mark 9:3)

In 1831, Nicholas Motovilov wrote of seeing St. Seraphim of Sarov transfigured with divine light. They had been discussing how a person can acquire the grace of the Holy Spirit, but Motovilov was puzzled: 

“I do not understand how I can be certain that I am in the Spirit of God,” he asked. And then, by way of reply, Father Seraphim took him firmly by the shoulders and said, “We are both in the Spirit of God now, my son. Why don’t you look at me?’ Motovilov replied, “I cannot look, Father, because your eyes are flashing like lightning. Your face has become brighter than the sun, and my eyes ache with pain.” Father Seraphim reassured him, “Don't be alarmed, your Godliness! Now you yourself have become as bright as I am. You are now in the fullness of the Spirit of God yourself; otherwise you would not be able to see me as I am.” 

 

The righteous, says Christ, will "shine like the sun."

The divine light which Peter, James and John saw on the holy mountain, on Mount Tabor, the light which belongs to Christ by nature as light from light, as the only begotten Son of the Father, is real and offered to us by grace.

We see it in St. Sarov, Paul saw it on the road to Damascus and it struck him blind. It suffused St. Stephen testifying before the Sanhedrin, “his face was like that of an angel,” and again with Moses who talked with God on Sinai and in the Tent of Meeting, whose face shone with such brightness from the encounter that he had to veil it. Perhaps you have seen it yourself.

To return to the Russian holy man. It's said that he spoke with bears and in particular, Misha:

Two other sisters witnessed such a scene: Fr. Seraphim sat on a log, when suddenly out of the woods came an enormous bear on his hind legs. The nuns were quite startled. The Elder said: “Misha, why are you scaring the orphans? You’d better go and get some sort of consolation, or I won’t have anything to treat them to.” The bear returned in two hours bringing with him a fresh honeycomb, covered with leaves. The elder took the honey, gave him a piece of bread and bade him depart.

 

I love this short story, it speaks of the peace which passes all understanding and the reversal of the Fall, a return to Eden. Strive to walk in the light, in the divine radiance. 

God bless you all,

LSP

Wisdom

 

 I was struck by this today, by Romano Guardini:

He simply commands us to follow his instructions. Only from the depths of a great faith is it possible to obey. One must be utterly convinced that such obedience evokes a divine reaction in our relationship with God, that when we act according to his will we participate in the divine creation, in the forming of a new world, for it is creative conduct that is commanded here.

When man so acts, he not only becomes good in himself and before God, but the divine goodness dormant in him becomes active power. This is what the Lord means when he speaks of "salt" that has not lost its flavor, "light" which lights the whole house.

 

The divine goodness dormant in him becomes active power; the seed of grace, God's life, unfolds with tremendous, unfathomable, brilliance in the souls of the faithful. Those with eyes to see will have have seen this light.

God bless,

LSP

Grace

Years ago, back in the halcyon days when the world was young and UKLF still had county regiments, I was praying, intensely, before the Sacrament. It was before an ecumenical service with local Baptists in Reading, England. 

My Father, rest in peace, was praying beside me. He was part of the service, maybe "guest preacher," and he looked at me, locked in white knuckle prayer effort and said, "Don't you believe in grace?"

Sheepishly, I replied that I did and relaxed.

We filled that church on the night with hundreds of people, it was packed. The Baptists pulled out of the project later because there was a statue of Virgin Mary in the church. Such idolatry!

Make of this what you will.

Gratia plena,

LSP