In business, in the home, in official and household duties, in the factory, all actions are done in the sight of God, all thoughts revolve about His Truths. The unreasoning blame, the false accusations, the jealousies and bitterness of others are borne patiently, as our Lord Jesus Christ bore them, so that love might reign and that God Almighty might be glorified in the bitter as in the sweet. Dependence on Him becomes strength; one no longer fears to undertake good works, knowing He will supply the means. But above all else, with this deep sense of peace, there is the gift of perseverance, which inspires us never to let down our guard, or to shrink from difficulties, or to be depressed as the soul presses on to its supernal vocation in Christ Jesus, Our Lord.

A final effect of complete conversion to God / the Lord Jesus Christ is less pleasant: One becomes the target of opposition and hate. A person can join any other movement, group, or cult without provoking hostile comment from his/her relatives, neighbors and friends; he/she can even found some esoteric sun cult of his/her own and be tolerated as a citizen exercising his/her legitimate freedom and satisfying his/her own religious needs. But as soon as anyone joins the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, opposition and hatred appear. This is because his/her relatives, neighbors and friends intuitively know that he/she no longer shares the spirit of the world, that he/she is now governed by Spirit, is lifted into a truly supernatural order, is united with Divinity in a special way, which is a challenge and reproach to those who would make the best of two worlds.

This reaction is not difficult to understand. Forget, for a moment, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church exists; and suppose there should suddenly appear on earth an institution equally Divine, which claimed to teach Truth as unerringly as God teaches it; which summoned children every morning to schools where they would begin and end their lessons with prayer; which forbade its married members to dishonor their marriage ties; which taught purity in a carnal environment; which, in all its decisions on society, on human rights, on politics and economics, started with the principle that nothing really matters except the salvation of a soul. How would the world receive it? With defiance, hatred, vilification, persecution and unremitting attacks. Whenever the Voice is heard, the Presence felt, there is such violent opposition as has been promised: "But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." - John 15:19 - 

As a consequence of this opposition to Christ, those who know a convert invoke a thousand far-fetched explanations to avoid the true reason - namely, the appeal of Divinity. The conversion of the young is explained as a phenomenon of adolescence; in the slightly older, it is blamed on a disappointment in love; the mature are called guilty of a mental aberration due to change of life; the old are accused of senility; in the unlearned, it is due to ignorance; in the learned, it causes raised eyebrows and the reflection, "Surprising! I thought he/she was too intelligent for that sort of thing." 

It is this fear of provoking the enmity of the world that discourages many from becoming converts. Of this Our Lord Himself warned: How else could Heaven be known but by the enmity it would provoke among the worldly? "For I came to set a man/woman at variance against his/her father, and the son/daughter against the mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." - Matthew 10:35 - In this sense, Our Lord, indeed, brought a sword, causing division among human beings; but the peace He also brought recompenses those who, apparently giving up everything, find all that is.

Who are the prospects for conversion? How are the men and women set apart who will, in a year or two, seek out the Church? What kind of people need conversion? There is no special temperament, no unique mood that marks the next year's convert. Everyone in the world is looking for certitude, peace of soul, and freedom of spirit. In the quest of every pleasure, even in the pursuit of the unlawful, all people pursue their ceaseless quest of the Infinite. Where they look for God is the only question on which they differ. In this they are divided, as music lovers are: The music we love is the music we already have in our souls. The disordered soul likes discordant music; the unregulated will enjoys unregulated dissonances and rejects the finer, better-orchestrated symphonies. It might take considerable education and self-discipline to make jive-loving minds appreciate the "Leonore," No. 3, overture, or any work of Handel, Mozart, or Beethoven. Yet the love of some kind of music is in everyone; it is in the kind of music one loves that the difference lies, and no one enjoys good music without training and discipline.

Everyone wants the things that only a love of God will bring, but most people today seek them in the wrong places. That is why no one comes to God without a revolution of the spirit; a person must stop seeking his good in Godlessness. "And this is the judgment: because the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil. For everyone that does evil hates the light, and comes not to the light, that his/her works may not be reproved". - John 3:19, 20 - Anyone who turns his/her face toward the light will be converted; but the turning must be done of his/her own free will. One can bribe tyrants, coax Quislings, flatter dictators, but there is no way to win God's love except by love. To each soul, He is forever saying, "Behold, I stand at the gate, and knock." - Revelation 3:20 - Shall we refuse to open it? To each mind, he reiterates, "I am the way and the truth and the life". - John 14:6 -

Are we ashamed to receive the truth, lest it expose our ignorance and perversity-even though that exposure bring us to glory and peace? To every heart, Our Lord says, "I am the Good Shepherd." - John 10:11 - Shall the frightened lambs lost in the brambles and thickets of modern life refuse His saving Hand? There is one simple way of beginning a conversion: Cease asking what God will give you if you come to Him, and begin to ask what you will give God. It is not the sacrifice it sounds, for, in having God, you will have everything besides.

BY  VENERABLE  FULTON  J.  SHEEN

- WELCOME TO SACRED SCRIPTURE / WORD OF GOD / HOLY BIBLE READER'S COMMUNITY - 

Wishing you, 'Happy Reading', and may God, the Father, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ, fills your heart, mind, thoughts, and grants you: The Holy Spirit, that is, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Counsel, Piety, Fortitude, Fear of the Lord, and also His fruits of the Holy Spirit, that is, Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Trustfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Amen! God blessing be upon you!

Why do you call Me, "Lord, Lord" and not do what I say?' "Everyone who comes to Me and listens to My words and acts on them - I will show you what he/she is like. He/She is like a man/woman who when he/she built his/her house dug, deep, and laid the foundations on rock; when the river was in flood it bore down on that house but could not shake it, it was so well built. But the one who listens and does nothing is like the man/woman who built his/her house on soil, with no foundations: as soon as the river bore down on it, it collapsed; and what a ruin that house became!" - Luke 6:46-49 - 

If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ Jesus, who is the head by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to it function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love." - Ephesians 4:15-16 - 

I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now. But when the spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself, but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come. He/She will glorify me, since all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he/she tells you will be taken from what is mine." - John 16:12-15 -