GOD LEADS US BY MANY ROADS. WHAT IS NECESSARY IS TRUST.

MAY 31, 2008

Many of us are familiar with the great conversion stories in Christian tradition. We know of St. Paul's experience being struck off his horse, and of St. Augustine who said he searched the whole world for God and finally found him within himself. Many know of John Henry Newman's ascent to faith, and of Theresa of Avila's awakening to new depths of spiritual life after 20 uneventful years of cloistered life. The story of Francis of Assisi is also well known -- how he renounced all his earthly possession because he had fallen in love with lady poverty and wanted nothing in his life but Christ.

In comparison, maybe your story or mine does not seem so dramatic, but really, each story is beautiful and miraculous in its own way. Every conversion story is unique, and yet each is the same. God calls. We may run and hide for a while, but sooner or later, in one way or another, we answer.

The story of turning to God is the story of the Bible. It is the story of Abraham, Moses, Jacob, and of many others. We know the plot in advance; the details differ only in their externals. Nonetheless, since in each case there is a human life at stake, these stories are worth preserving, telling, and cherishing.

When we look at our own individual lives, we may become aware only of our failings and sins, and feel we have never really said "yes" to God. But at least for the vast majority, this isn't true. All of us are in the process of deepening and purifying our relationship with God, or rather, he is in the process of purifying us and deepening the communion between us.

God is always the one who takes the initiative. We begin to feel his power in our lives. We can hardly believe it when this happens, but we cannot deny that something very real and discernible is happening to us, even though we may feel that it couldn't be happening. And every time we hear his call and answer it, some change occurs. A door we didn't know was there suddenly opens and we pass through it; and as we do, we see that life is much more than we had imagined.

We may proceed with great uncertainty and doubt, but our faith is deepening. Even though our steps may feel unsure, we are moving onto firmer ground, and growing stronger in God's grace. Hidden meaning and beauty in our lives gradually open before us, and an unexplainable joy seeps into every corner of our hearts. Even if our world is falling apart around us, nothing can disturb our inner calm.

God has become absolutely real for us. This discovery may be sudden or gradual. So also does the experience of his love grow within us. We feel his mercy and tenderness, and our fears and doubts evaporate.

This experience has nothing necessarily to do with visions or sudden and dramatic changes in our lives, although change may occur. The heart of it is simply becoming open to God's overflowing love. To be filled with that love is to be changed, and this is what changes everything around us. We begin to act lovingly towards others.

This inner change takes place in many different ways and circumstances. It might express itself in our willingness to turn away from a broken life toward the gospel. It might be realized in our commitment to grow more deeply in the divine life that is already within us. This change is not only for lost sinners, it is also for those who are already living the faith. It is the recurring call to let go of what is not essential, and to give ourselves more fully to God.

This transformation is not something we can accomplish on our own. Without the initiative of the Holy Spirit within us we would not have the courage or the strength to leave behind our failures or to renounce our vanities and false idols, and turn more deeply toward God.

Because God never abandons us, nothing that takes place in our life can totally destroy our chances for life with God. Even when we seem to fail, God continues to call, and to mysteriously achieve his purposes in us.

This is the witness of Isaiah the prophet, who said, in 49:3-6, "Though I thought I had toiled in vain, for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength, yet my reward is with the Lord, for the Lord has spoken... and I am made glorious in his sight, and my God is now my strength. It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant... I will make you a light to the nations that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth."

+Bishop Raymundo J. Peña

last updated 03-Jun-2008 9:15 sitemap