A Life of Conversion. Derek Rotty
A Life of Conversion
Meeting Christ in the Gospels
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Msgr. Michael Heintz, Ph.D.
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✠ Kevin C. Rhoades
Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend
July 6, 2019
Except where noted, the Scripture citations used in this work are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible — Second Catholic Edition (Ignatius Edition), copyright © 1965, 1966, 2006 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2019 by Derek Rotty
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1. RELIGION—Biblical Studies—Bible Study Guides. 2. RELIGION—Christian Life—Spiritual Growth. 3. RELIGION—Christianity—Catholic
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A Life of Conversion
Meeting Christ in the Gospels
Derek Rotty
To my beautiful wife, Khira, who has walked the path of conversionwith me and aided my conversion all along the way
Contents
Awareness, Repentance, and Reconciliation
Mission and the Works of Mercy
An Invitation to Conversion
At the beginning of Mark’s Gospel, Jesus immediately offers an invitation to follow him (1:14–15). If we want to answer the Lord’s invitation, we must convert. This means allowing our minds and hearts to be turned more fully toward Jesus and the ideal he has for our individual lives. The Latin verb convertere, from which we derive the word “conversion,” literally means “to turn around, to transform.” Christianity requires constant, daily turning to Jesus and becoming more like him. For this reason, conversion is not just a beginning point, it is the hallmark of the Christian life.
It is far too easy to think of conversion as a moment in our past life that changed everything but requires nothing (or at least very little) of us now. Real conversion, though — repenting of sin, and turning our minds and hearts fully toward God — is not a one-time event. It is a process: One that is essential to living as Christians, to becoming more like Jesus.
Many of us can look back at a specific point in our lives when we first encountered Jesus Christ and realized his plan for us. This has been true in my own life. When I found the fullness of Christianity, the Catholic faith, at the age of twenty-two, I thought I was all set. Was I ever wrong! More than fifteen years after I was received home into the Catholic Church, I realize that the Lord wants me to become more like him every day. And I am still so far from the ideal he has for me. The Lord is still working on me, converting me every single day.
This is true for all of us as Christian disciples. Every day we face countless temptations to turn back to our selfish, materially focused way of living. All of us have our own unique temptations