For (St. John) Newman, conversion, as he understands it, is not a momentary event, that is, a once-in-a-lifetime, Paul-on- the-road-to-Damascus revelation. It is rather a way of life, and it affects us throughout our lives. Any attempt on the believer’s part to delineate a solitary event of conversion was contrived.
Indeed, it contradicted the known actions of the agent of conversion, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is thought of as a catalyst for conversion, forever stimulating revaluation, rejuvenation and growth. The Spirit pleads with us continually and approaches us, first from one angle and then from another.
Newman admits that this constant movement, adjustment, conversion is hard work. It is gradual. It can be frustrating. It is never complete. It has many reverses and is never perfected. Every new day is a new horizon, every confession of sin a new beginning, every new neighbor a new community. Every apology is a fresh start, every Mass a new liturgy, every psalm a new opportunity.
Conversion is the repeated event of daily Christian living in the very mundaneness of that living. It is the engine of discipleship. It is not our second nature, but our primary nature.
The presence of the Divine subverts any delusions of natural human completeness. We are never finished products. We are always growing up, growing deeper, growing more profoundly into God. To be a lively Christian is to change. It means we can never become “set in our ways,” convinced of the perfection of our opinions, closed to growth in ourselves, or in our brothers and sisters.
Fr. Denis Robinson, OSB
St. Meinrad Benedictine Oblate, Winter, 2009
