Luceat!

I was struck today by the introduction in the “Magnificat” to the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Pope Benedict is quoted:

“The message of the Church is there precisely in order to conflict with our behavior, to tear man out of his life of lies and bring clarity and truth. Truth makes demands, and it also burns.”

“To tear man” is such a powerful phrase. Essentially this ‘tearing’ is conversion which takes place throughout one’s life. So many different words can be used to describe this conversion instead of ‘tear’. ‘To call man’, ‘to bring man’, ‘to push man’, just to name a few. However the words chosen by Pope Benedict in this instance, “to tear man”, speak into a particular aspect of conversion. That aspect is the painful aspect.

The truth of it is that we don’t want to change, but God loves us too much to leave us how we are. Grace begins to tug, then it yanks. The false gods which he is clinging to are slipping from his grasp. This is painful because it exposes us to something we were once made for, but until this point in our lives have been without.

I believe that college students feel this pain and sting so strongly as they go through conversion while in school. Everyday the average college student is faced with sex, alcohol, and atheism. They have a group of friends that are expecting them to think and act a certain way. As this changes their friends don’t look at them in the same way. Often on the path to conversion old friends will try to “talk some sense into them.” At this point the stinging is feeling life fire. When this occurs, many backslide into their old life.

Community and real fellowship (more than snacks and laughter) are so vital in helping someone who is being torn away by Grace from their old life. As missionaries it is important to always be inviting people into a way of life, providing them a place of joy and hope. As St. Francis deSales said, “Great fires are fanned by the wind, but a little one is soon extinguished if left without shelter.”