CONVERSION SHOULD BEGIN AT HOME

aUGUST 19, 2007

One of the best loved stories in the Christian tradition has to do with the conversion of Giovanni Francesco Bernardone, better known as St. Francis of Assisi. His father had plans for him. He would enter the military, go off to war, become a hero and then a prominent citizen, and take over his father's lucrative business. As a soldier, however, Francis was captured, spent a year in prison, returned home, and suffered a long illness. When he recovered, he had lost interest in his father's business and in the amusements that formerly delighted him. His friends found him completely changed. He devoted himself to the sick and poor and spent much of his time in churches, hospitals, and prisons. Riding outside the city one day, he met a leper whose sores were so ugly that at first Francis turned from him and hurried on his way. But then he stopped, came back, dismounted, gave the beggar alms, and kissed his diseased face.

To help rebuild the local church of St. Damian, Francis took a horse-load of bales of cloth from his father's warehouse, and sold it horse and all. As a reward, Francis was beaten by his angry father, who demanded the price of the stolen goods. But Francis maintained that the money now belonged to God's poor. Francis stripped himself of his clothing, saying that thenceforth only
God was his Father. The rest is history.

For most people, conversion does not seem so dramatic. It is usually a quiet affair only God sees. And in fact, there are usually a series of steps that lead up to the moment of decisive change.

The same was true of Francis. He wrote: "When I was in sin, the sight of lepers nauseated me beyond measure, but then God himself led me unto their company, and I had pity on them. When I had become acquainted with them, what had previously nauseated me became a source of spiritual and physical consolation for me. After that I did not wait long before leaving the world."

Francis did not learn so much by hard effort to accept lepers. He said God led him into their company. Francis' conversion, in other words, was what God did in him, enabling him to see Christ in the lepers.

That is the mystery of the power of God's grace. And the fact is, we can't do anything without it. What we can and must do, though, is choose to say yes or no to God's call.

Each of us experiences God's call in unique ways and at unique moments. The call to conversion, however, is normally given and heard in a the formative years, when young people are coming of age and beginning to make their own decisions and chart a course for their lives.

At this age, parents can play an indispensable role in pointing (but not pushing) their children in the right direction. If they're not aiming their own lives toward God, they can easily point their children in the wrong direction.

There was nothing particularly wrong with the hopes Francis' father had for him, except that Jesus Christ was far from the center of things.

Whenever parents want things for their children that God does not, the house will find itself divided. The call of Jesus challenges parents to prepare their children not necessity for competition for the best jobs and positions in society. They must teach them, instead, to seek first God's kingdom and to follow the gospel.

Parents should say to their children such things as "We Christians marry for life. We don't divorce", and "success is not the most important thing. Fidelity is" and "whatever God calls you to be, that's what you should be. Seek God's will for you". They should tell them stories of the saints and of people who have dedicated themselves to God's work. Parents should not send but take their children to church on Sunday, and teach them that it's our duty and privilege to worship God and give him thanks and praise for salvation. Parents should teach their children that their purpose on earth is to give glory to God.

In a Christian home, parents should be models of saying yes to God. They should be ready to influence their children by the Christian standards of their lives, and by the challenge they give them to live the gospel authentically and fully.

The final decision of saying yes or no to God's call must be made while we are still on earth. The peace of Jesus is the cross. But the cross and death of discipleship of Jesus, for those who have said yes, is both life and resurrection in him: "Whoever loses his life for my sake", says Jesus, "shall find it."

+Bishop Raymundo J. Peña

last updated 05-Jun-2008 9:48 sitemap