{"id":2612,"date":"2007-03-11T23:59:51","date_gmt":"2007-03-11T23:59:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/viamedia\/2007\/03\/conversion-2.html"},"modified":"2007-03-11T23:59:51","modified_gmt":"2007-03-11T23:59:51","slug":"conversion-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2007\/03\/conversion-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Conversion"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pope today, in his Angelus talk:<\/a><\/p>\n

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Christ\u2019s invitation to conversion, \u201cto repent\u2026is not just a simple moral dictate, but the most effective way to change oneself and society for the better\u201d: Benedict XVI today placed at the basis of social renewal the most intimate element of Lenten preaching.  Conversion is the only realistic attitude, \u201cthe only appropriate answer to events which undermine human certainties\u201d. <\/p>\n

The Pontiff drew his reflections before the Angelus from the gospel of this third Sunday of Lent which chronicles \u201ctwo important events\u201d of Christ\u2019s time \u201cThe first: the revolt of some Galileans, bloodily suppressed by Pilate; the second the collapse of a tower in Jerusalem, which caused 18 victims. Two distinct tragedies: one caused by man, the other accidental\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to the mentality of the time \u2013 explained the pope – people tended to think that these terrible events were brought upon the victims by some fault of their own.  Instead Christ says: \u2018Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? \u2026 Or those eighteen people were guiltier than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? (Luke<\/em> 13, 2.4). In both cases He concludes: By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!\u2019 (13, 3.5)\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Pontiff maintains that in this was Jesus warns that \u201cin the face of certain tragic events it is of no use to blame the victims. The truly wise instead recognise the precarious nature of existence and take on a responsible attitude towards it: by repenting and improving our lives\u201d. <\/p>\n

Conversion s neither an intimate nor moral attitude, but is of benefit to society.  The Pontiff said the \u201cit is the most effective response to evil, at every level, inter personal, social and international.  Christ invites us to respond to evil first and foremost by seriously examining our own conscience and purifying our lives.  Otherwise \u2013 he says \u2013 we will perish in a similar way.   In fact the people and societies which live their lives without every questioning themselves are destined for ruination.  Instead Conversion, though it will not save us from problems or misadventures, permits us to face them in a different \u2018way\u2019.  Above all it helps us prevent evil, by defusing some of its threats. And it allows good to win over evil, maybe not at always at a practical level \u2013 often events occur beyond our will \u2013 but certainly at a spiritual level.  In short: Conversion defeats evil at its very root which is sin, even if it may not always prevent its consequences<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

(In case you are confused by the reference to the Gospel for today, it might be because you were in a parish in which the Scrutinies occurred, in which case you heard the Year A readings – the gospel being the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Pope today, in his Angelus talk: Christ\u2019s invitation to conversion, \u201cto repent\u2026is not just a simple moral dictate, but the most effective way to change oneself and society for the better\u201d: Benedict XVI today placed at the basis of social renewal the most intimate element of Lenten preaching.  Conversion is the only realistic attitude,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nConversion - Via Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2007\/03\/conversion-2.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Conversion - 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The Catholicism comes from her side. Amy grew up in a number of places - Indiana - Washington, DC - Lubbock Texas - Arlington, Virginia - DeKalb, Illinois - Lawrence, Kansas - and Knoxville, Tennessee, where the family settled in 1973. She attended Knoxville Catholic High School, then the University of Tennessee where she majored in history. She received an MA in Church History from Vanderbilt University, where she wrote a thesis on the changing role of women in 19th century American Protestantism, and the ways Scripture was used to justify those changes. She worked as as a teacher in Catholic high schools and a Parish Director of Religious Education and started writing for the diocesan press - the Florida Catholic - in 1988. Amy has written columns for Our Sunday Visitor and Catholic News Service at times over the past twenty years. Her articles have been published in venues ranging from Our Sunday Visitor to the New York Times to Commonweal. She has written 17 books. 18, if you included the as yet tragically unpublished novel. Amy has five children, ranging in age from 26 to 4 and was married to Michael Dubruiel, who died unexpectedly in February 2009. She lives in Birmingham, Alabama.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/author\/awelborn"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2612\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}