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Conversion Aversion?

During Moses’ encounter with God in the burning bush, God told Moses: “I have witnessed the affliction of my people and have heard their cry of complaint, so I know well what they are suffering. Therefore I have come down to rescue them and lead into a good and spacious land.” St. Paul, however, reminds us that, even though God rescued the Israelites and led them into the desert, not all of them remained faithful when God tested them to see if their faith and their love for Him were true.

During this Lent, the world and each of us find ourselves in a spiritual, emotional, or physical desert. We find ourselves calling out to God because we suffer, experience difficulties and trials, and are weak. The entire world is crying out to God as we face the very real possibility of World War III. God, in His Love, wishes to help us. He reassures us that He will rescue us.

But, we must remember that, when God shows us His Love, when He provides us with His help, He also expects that we will be faithful by responding through our own conversion.

God is patient, and He gives us many chances and opportunities to convert, but we cannot deceive ourselves into thinking that God will wait forever for our response. He will knock and He will love, but if we do not convert, then God may stop knocking. Just as a tree that does not bear fruit is cut down, we as individuals, societies, and nations have the potential to reject God. And, right now, we are witnessing the worldwide consequences of our ongoing rejection of the Lord and our refusal to convert.

In almost all of the major and approved Marian apparitions that have taken place throughout the past two centuries, Our Lady has repeatedly appealed to the faithful to pray the Rosary every day, to make sacrifices, to fast, and to pray for the conversion of sinners. While it is easy to dismiss these practices as old-fashioned, the reality is that these seemingly small acts are the spiritual weapons of mass restoration that Heaven has given us to stop war and to bring society back to God. These are the humble but powerful means to bring about the conversion of individual people and entire nations.

I implore each of you to reflect on your lives now and ask yourselves: “Am I responding to God’s Love and call to convert? Or am I procrastinating or rejecting the call to truly change my heart?” Please, be honest with yourselves and with God, and do not hesitate to humbly ask for the grace of conversion if you find that you need it. God is always ready to rescue us. He is always waiting to help. The task is ours to respond by doing what He asks through Our Lady before it is too late.

Yours in Christ,
Father Arthur

Readings for the Third Sunday of Lent: Lectionary 30