conversion

"It is the Spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail.

The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life.

But there are some of you who do not believe.'

Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe

and the one who would betray him.

And he said, 'For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me

unless it is granted him by my Father.'

As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life

and no longer walked with him.

Jesus then said to the Twelve, 'Do you also want to leave?'

Simon Peter answered him, 'Master, to whom shall we go?

You have the words of eternal life.

We have come to believe

and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.'"

Jn 6:63-69

Even those of us who count ourselves among those who believe must realize at some point that life in Christ is a continual process of conversion. We fall, we get up, we keep going, we fall, we get up, we keep going... and we keep growing. We keep getting up and moving forward because we know, like St. Peter did, that Jesus has the words of eternal life, that he is the Holy One of God. 

I want to share a story with you today that was recently shared with me by a priest, about an experience he had in the seminary. He told me, "There was an elderly priest who was a professor at my seminary - he was probably 90 years old - so he'd probably been a priest for 60 years. I ran into him on campus one afternoon, and he greeted me, and said, 'Pray for my conversion!' And I said to him, 'Father, what do you mean? You've been 'converted' for years!' He said to me, 'Well, I have been a priest for many years. And one day, you may be a priest, too. But that doesn't mean we've made it. We should constantly be undergoing conversion in our lives.'"

Wisdom, eh? I think this story is a good reminder, not only of the fact that none of us have "made it," and we won't until we actually make it to eternity - but also of the fact that none of us are perfect, we all screw up, and if we want keep going, to keep growing - if we don't want to return to our former ways of life, but keep moving forward to new life, deepened life in Christ - we have to keep "converting," too. 

+Peace, and all good.