October 23, 2009
Friday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
By Melanie Rigney
For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh. The willing is ready at hand, but doing the good is not. For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want. Now if (I) do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. So, then, I discover the principle that when I want to do right, evil is at hand. For I take delight in the law of God, in my inner self, but I see in my members another principle at war with the law of my mind, taking me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Miserable one that I am! Who will deliver me from this mortal body? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 7:18-25a)
May your love comfort me in accord with your promise to your servant. (Psalms 119:76)
“Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? If you are to go with your opponent before a magistrate, make an effort to settle the matter on the way; otherwise your opponent will turn you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the constable, and the constable throw you into prison. I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.” (Luke 12:57-59)
Piety
Thee alone do I love, Thee alone I follow, Thee alone I seek, Thee alone am I prepared to serve, for Thou alone art rightly Lord, and of Thy lordship I desire to be. Direct, I pray, and command whatever Thou wilt, but heal and open my ears, that I may hear Thine utterances. Heal and open my eyes, that I may behold the signs of thy command. Drive delusion from me, that I may recognize Thee. O Lord, most merciful Father receive, I pray, Thy fugitive; enough already, surely, have I been punished, long enough have I served Thine enemies, whom Thou hast under Thy feet, long enough has error had its way with me. To Thee I feel I must return: I knock; may Thy door be opened to me; teach me the way to Thee. (Excerpted from St. Augustine’s prayer for conversion)
Study
“What day were you baptized?” a friend asked at a recent group discussion of “Spe Salvi facti sumus/in hope we were saved,” Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical. Nearly all the cradle Catholics looked around blankly; most of the converts came forth immediately with the date. Not surprising; they were all adults when they converted and fully conscious of the import of the day.
But at some point, we all, no matter what our age at baptism, took responsibility for our own continual conversion. And, doubtless we’ve all experienced the struggle Paul, a convert, shares today: “For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want.” Like Paul, we look to Christ to deliver us from our own desire to sin and help us walk closer with him.
Our faith lives may have major, mindblowing conversion moments: the birth of a child. The death of a parent. The life-threatening illness of a friend. The first time we hear our own name included in the Prayers of the Faithful.
Other moments are smaller and perhaps more private: the day we don’t snap back or roll our eyes when a person we find difficult says something we consider stupid. The afternoon we give a beggar a dollar without being concerned about how the money will be spent. The morning we don’t remake the bed or refold the towels to our satisfaction because a spouse or child doesn’t do it quite right.
In 2007, the pope shared with seminarians some thoughts on this subject: “… the journey after conversion is still a journey of conversion … it remains a journey where the broad perspectives, joys and lights of the Lord are not absent; but nor are dark valleys absent through which we must wend our way with trust, relying on the goodness of the Lord.”
Let us honor the Lord by honoring those points of conversion and learning from them, even if they don’t come with a certificate from the Church.
Action
Share with your family or group reunion your most recent memorable date of conversion. If you can’t remember one, journal this week about moments of change so that you can identify them going forward.
