15th Sunday after Pentecost 6.9.15 Conversion
Our Lord restores the son to his mother. If we take the mother to be the Church and the son to be individual sinners then we can see what this miracle symbolises.
This miracle causes great excitement as it naturally would. To see a miraculous healing is one thing. To see a dead person come back to life is even more spectacular.
Our Lord could have done this every day of the week, but we have only three cases recorded in the Gospels (this young man, the daughter of Jairus, and Lazarus).
He intended to raise everyone from the dead eventually; but for the time being He had another priority – to raise from sin!
It may not seem so to us but to be forgiven from sin is a greater thing than to be raised from the dead.
This is because sin is a greater evil than death. Death is only the penalty for sin. It is Sin which is the ultimate evil.
To be raised from sin is the more immediate problem. It is like the difference between curing the symptom and curing the disease itself.
But there is a snag. Not everyone wants to be forgiven; nor to give up the life of sin.
Sin is addictive and can be very hard to shake off. There are some sins which we will find easy not to do (eg bank robbery, murder) but others which are much harder to avoid (eg uncharitable words and thoughts).
This is true even for those who are disciples of Our Lord, who are trying to live good lives.
It is even more difficult for those who are not His disciples, who hate or ignore Him.
How can they give up sin when they do not even believe in Him, or may not acknowledge that they have any sin?
It is hard even for God to get through to some people.
He could easily override their will and make them sorry; but He chooses not to do this.
He wants to win people over by love rather than by force, so He works on them in a more subtle way - which gives them the chance to refuse.
To be forgiven we have to make a voluntary acknowledgment of our sorrow. It is His grace and mercy at work, but we have to make a response for the process to be complete.
It has to be voluntary, and this is where the blockage occurs.
God will work in mysterious ways around each person, but will not force them.
Sometimes - out of the blue as it seems to us – people will convert and repent, and be much happier in the process.
We rejoice in this but we need it to happen more often and more quickly.
There are millions of people throughout the world who are right now in a state of sin, and this would be in many cases mortal sin. They need rescue.
This is a crisis bigger than anything that makes our daily news. It may not be a visible problem but it is very real.
We can help by standing firm in the state of grace, constantly praying and doing penance for the conversion of others.
This is one of the Church’s major purposes for existing – to be a Mother for lost children.
Prayer will make conversions more likely to happen; and the more prayer the more good will follow.
The Church prays collectively all the time for the conversion of hearts and minds, for true sorrow for sin to take root, and for the mercy of God to complete the process of forgiveness.
Once forgiven each person then becomes responsible for helping others to reach the same point.
We are here because we have been fortunate enough to discover the workings of God’s grace. We have a duty to be grateful for that and also to do whatever we can to direct that grace to others.
Lord, have mercy!
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