Ongoing Conversion
Conversion is not a one-time event in which we are fully converted and done. It is an ongoing process in which Christ continues to invite us to be more like him.
Key Insights
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Renewal
Those actively practicing the Catholic faith are called to continually be converted and continually renew their faith. |
Quotations
This is crucial: we must be converted—and we must continue to be converted! We must let the Holy Spirit change our lives! We must respond to Jesus Christ. And we must be open to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit who will continue to convert us as we follow Christ. If our faith is alive, it will be aroused again and again as we mature as disciples. Go And Make Disciples: A National Plan and Strategy for Catholic Evangelization in the United States, 14
USCCB Emphasis added The New Evangelization does not seek to invite people to experience only one moment of conversion but rather to experience the gradual and lifelong process of conversion: to draw all people into a deeper relationship with God, to participate in the sacramental life of the Church, to develop a mature conscience, to sustain one’s faith through ongoing catechesis, and to integrate one’s faith into all aspects of one’s life. Disciples Called to Witness: The New Evangelization
Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, USCCB The New Evangelization is an opportunity for ongoing conversion. This reorientation of one’s life toward Christ is possible because of the work of the Holy Spirit. Disciples Called to Witness: The New Evangelization
Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, USCCB |
The Church is an evangelizer, but she begins by being evangelized herself. She is the community of believers, the community of hope lived and communicated, the community of brotherly love, and she needs to listen unceasingly to what she must believe, to her reasons for hoping, to the new commandment of love. She is the People of God immersed in the world, and often tempted by idols, and she always needs to hear the proclamation of the "mighty works of God" which converted her to the Lord; she always needs to be called together afresh by Him and reunited. In brief, this means that she has a constant need of being evangelized, if she wishes to retain freshness, vigor and strength in order to proclaim the Gospel. The Second Vatican Council recalled and the 1974 Synod vigorously took up again this theme of the Church which is evangelized by constant conversion and renewal, in order to evangelize the world with credibility. The New Evangelization calls us to renew our faith so that we can share it with others. Before one can evangelize, one must be evangelized. A disciple of Christ must continually renew his or her faith. The disciple who then shares the faith is an evangelist. Disciples Called to Witness: The New Evangelization
Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, USCCB Emphasis added |