Dear Parishioners,

By now most of you have become aware of the recent Pastoral Le er launched by Bishop Hicks, i.e., MAKE for the people of Joliet Diocese. More will unfold regarding this le er in the weeks and months ahead. Essen ally its focus is on the Great Commission of Jesus. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, bap zing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the world. (Ma hew 28: 19-20).

Eager to respond to this command as faithfully as we can at this me and in this moment of history, the Bishop has outlined a roadmap that consists of 5 elements – 4 Cs & a P:

• Conversion
• Confession
• Communion
• Commission
• Prayer

Each of these elements grows out of the one that preceded it among the Cs, and the P holds them together like the hub of a wheel. In my next several bulletin articles, I would like to reflect on each of these elements, a emp ng to show how concretely they are frequently experienced by ordinary people at significant moments in their lives.

We often times associate conversion as some drastic or crisis experience that becomes a watershed moment forever changing the life of an individual or even a wider community. In his Pastoral Le er, Bishop Hicks describes conversion as…

that moment when you realize that God is real and not just a theory, and when you personally understand that God is connecting with and loving you to the point that you respond by deciding to follow Him forever. (MAKE pg. 6)

This is a lovely definition, many examples of which punctuate the pages of sacred scripture. In the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament), the book of Exodus 3: 1-16 we read the conversion story of Moses when one ordinary day, while he was tending sheep he witnessed a miraculous sign, a bush that was on re but not consumed. From that bush he heard God’s voice calling him to become the leader who would liberate the Hebrew people from their bondage in Egypt. Stunned and frightened by such an auspicious calling, God assured Moses that he would abide with him throughout this daunting task. God even revealed the name by which God would forever be called – I AM Who I Am, usually translated Yahweh in Hebrew. The literal translation of this name however, is I will be who I will be, and more aptly qualities as a verb rather than a noun. Thus began the great odyssey of Moses referred to as the exodus from Egypt and the sojourn to the Promised Land.

A prominent conversion story found in the New Testament in Acts. 9: 3-9 focuses on a leading Pharisee named Saul, who was fiercely determined to crush the growing “Jesus movement” which later will be called Christianity. Travelling from Jerusalem to Syria with an official letter that would empower him to arrest anyone following this “new way” -- the way of Jesus, Saul was suddenly struck by a blinding light that threw him to the ground. He then heard a voice that said, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” When he inquired as to the source of this voice he was told “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. Get up and go to the home of Judas on Straight Street where you will be told what to do.

These two biblical examples are tremendous accounts of conversion that undoubtedly changed, not only the persons of Moses and Paul, but an entire course of religious history. Most of us are not privileged (or not privileged, depending on how one wants to view them) to sensational experiences of this gravity. Nonetheless, most have had some personal encounter with God or another person when we felt deeply loved for who we are regardless of who we were, and from that moment on, our lives were forever changed for the good.

I recall the movie, Good Will Hun ng (1977) starring Ma Damon who played the role Will, a college age genius who refused to live according to the normal expectations of a person his age, and instead dwelt alone in a dilapidated house while working as a janitor at a nearby university. Eventually, when his brilliance was discovered, he agreed to participate in psychological counseling with Robin Williams who played the role of Sean. A er weeks of arduous conversations between the two, one day Sean confronted Will with the knowledge of his childhood past when he was physically and emotionally abused by his alcoholic father. Wan ng to impress upon Will that the mistreatment to which he was subjected was not warranted nor deserved he said repeatedly told him, It’s not your fault, to which Will responded, I know. Will knew, only on an intellectual level that the abuse he suffered was not his fault. He had not yet embraced this reality on a deeper internal level until finally, a er what seemed to be an endless succession of It’s not your fault, there was a crescendo climax in the movie when Will burst into tears and physically embraced Sean who had become the catalyst of his conversion. Having been freed from the prison of his past, the liberated Will could now choose a new and fuller direction for his life.

Good Will Hunting is a cinematic example of conversion. Our conversion experiences may not be as drama c or life altering. Nonetheless there are always “cracks” in our lifelong journeys when the grace of God can suddenly make an inroad to touch us in a unique way, calling us to change or move from one place to another. Our response(s) is a beginning of some sort and a necessary step on the roadmap of making disciples for Jesus.

Blessings,

Gabriel O.S.B.

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