“Called Or Not Called, God Is Here”

Conversion is not viewed as an act of turning away from this or that sin toward this or that virtue. True conversion is never so neatly defined or cleanly accomplished. Conversion involves the gradual reshaping of consciousness to the point that the “convert” begins to view life in a radically new way. It is not something a person DECIDES to do, as though it were in our power to do so. We are led through conversion by the gracious Lord who alone has the power to reshape our consciousness, and who must do so in the face of deep resistance. In the ways the the spirit, it is the Lord and not ourselves who determines that from which we must be purified, and this is usually the source of our greatest resistance.
Peter Fink, S.J.

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Saint Scholastica peers at me from this small bronze plaque as I work on the computer typing out blogs, columns, books, and emails. I found the plaque in gift shop just outside the Great Hall on Saint John’s campus in Collegeville. Finding images of Scholastica is difficult, and I was happy with the discovery. Today is her feast in the Roman Catholic Church’s calendar.

Not much is known about Scholastica. She is the twin sister of St. Benedict, and like her brother, she founded a monastic community. Her convent was not far from his monastery and once a year they met part way between both to spend a day in conversation about the spiritual life. I can’t imagine that other more mundane topics common between brothers and sisters were not discussed.

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“…Soul, self, come, poor Jackself, I do advise/
You, jaded, let be; call off thoughts awhile/
Elsewhere; leave comfort root-room; let joy size/
At God knows when to God knows what; whose smile/
‘s not wrung, see you; unforeseen times rather – as skies/
Betweenpie mountains – lights a lovely mile.”
from Gerard Manley Hopkins – poem 46

This morning a line from Psalm 3 found a place in me. A simple line, “I lie down, I sleep and I wake, for the Lord upholds me.”

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In his book, “Dictionary of Biblical Theology,” Xavier Leon-Dufour points out that in the OT, the Israelite understanding of divine kingship differed from that of other ancient Eastern kingdoms in an essential way: Yahweh has a covenant with his people. He desires his reign to be recognized by obedience to the Law. His reign is of the heart, a moral code, not a political one. (p 292)

In today’s gospel, after his baptism, Jesus has moved to Capernaum, on the Sea of Galliee and beings his public ministry by declaring the “Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Then he began teaching in the synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom, and curing people. A sign, it seems, that the kingdom had indeed come in the person of Jesus. It has broken into history, into time and space.

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