Call to conversion

Given to the Sisters of the Domus S. Maria del Guadalupe
On the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul
By: Rev. Deacon Ronnie P. Floyd

A professor of mine at Mt. St. Mary’s in Emmitsburg
tells the story of the conversion of Scott Hahn.

After many years of honestly searching for a greater understanding of the Truth as a protestant minister
Scott Hahn discovered the Catholic faith,
and with it the Mass;

and as he recounts in his book the Supper of the Lamb
being an honest intellectual,
and what’s more an authentic human being,
Hahn knew he had to respond to the truth
that he had found in the Catholic Faith.

But being a conservative protestant
And what’s more a protestant minister
This was easier said than done.

Hahn had many relationships and friendships
tied to his identity as a protestant and his role as a pastor
that would change overnight, if he became a Catholic
a Papist,  not the least of which was his marriage.

But he knew what he had to do
and so he began to seek instruction,
and he spoke to his wife Kimberly about his discernment.

Kimberly, being a good protestant woman
did what any protestant woman would do in that situation.

She went to speak to a minister,
in this case not her husband but a family friend.
This Pastor told Kimberly that her husbands actions
Provided the moral grounds for a DIVORCE,
And he encouraged this course of action!!
In the end, Kimberly’s love for her husband
Kept her by his side, and eventually ushered her into the Church and with her many others, including the neighboring pastor who is now a professor of Biblical Theology at the Mount and who humbly told me this story.

Hahn’s conversion, like St. Paul’s was not a real conversion. Paul didn’t leave one faith and join another

Rather, it was a fulfillment, a culmination of what was already believed.

Paul, like Hahn, was a lover of the True God, the God of Truth and Love— and both were zealous for the Lord. And so their conversion, was rather an arriving at, and discovery of, a fuller truth.

Each one of us, as Catholic’s have a duty to be zealous for the Lord, in this way.
To passionately long for the Truth; so much so, that we are willing to humbly admit we are wrong, and to radically change our lives—when we are knocked off our horse by the Truth;

I am a Catholic,… as a priest you hear this used a defense of bad behavior so often.

I am a Catholic... so what? Paul was a Jew, a member of the chosen people. Salvation is not found in wearing a name, but in living in the Holy Name.

To Jew and gentile alike, Jesus says, repent and believe in the Gospel. A message which he repeats to us each day!

In Acts we read that Paul went to persecute not Christians, but the followers of the way. This early name of the Christian faith reminds us that our Catholic faith is never a rest stop a place where we come to find refreshment, rather it is a highway to truth, that requires constant forward motion constant effort, to follow the Way, which is Christ

We are pilgrims on this earth, ever seeking to become more like our Savior and God.

When we do this, we encourage others to do it, and by the grace of the bonds of friendship and love, which unite us with others,

We help lead others to the Truth, who might not be able to find it on their own. Or should I say who might not be able to find Him.

Today on the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul lets demand greater authenticity, which is to say greater holiness, from ourselves, ingoring the cost of this authenticity, as we approach the symbol of true Love, the Cross of Jesus Christ
and the life changing Sacrament of the Altar.

Today we celebrate the Feast of Paul’s Conversion, but as Catholics, each and every day of our life SHOULD be the feast of OUR conversion.