Advent | The Call to Conversion
one
The Gospel of today, the Second Sunday of Advent presents us with the figure of John the Baptist. But why him? He’s not in the Nativity scene, so how does he get into this story before Christmas? John was sent by God to prepare the people to receive Jesus.
Mark chapter 1: It is written in the book of the prophet Isaiah: Look, I am going to send my messenger before you; he will prepare your way. A voice cries in the wilderness: Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight. and so it was that John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. All Judaea and all the people of Jerusalem made their way to him, and as they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, they confessed their sins.
John’s message was simple:
· Repent – which means to admit our sins; be truly sorry for offending Jesus who shed His blood for us; and make the firm resolution to stop sinning in big and small matters.
· Then to go to the Confession – they were confessing their sins at the Jordan River.
· Repentance also requires that we change of the way we live. For if we don’t change, then we really weren’t serious about repentance in the first place, were we.
two
The next day, seeing Jesus coming towards him, John the Baptist said, 'Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.’
Jesus is the only one who can take away our sin and guilt.
To repent and convert we must go to Jesus.
And we can meet him Personally in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Jesus to St Faustina (1602) Today the Lord said to me, “Daughter, when you go to confession, to this fountain of My mercy, the Blood and water which came forth from My Heart always flows down upon your soul and ennobles it. Every time you go to confession, immerse yourself entirely in My mercy, with great trust, so that I may pour the bounty of My grace upon your soul. When you approach the confessional, know this, that I Myself am waiting there for you. I am only hidden by the priest, but I myself act in your soul. Here the misery of the soul meets the God of mercy. Tell souls that from this fount of mercy souls draw graces solely with the vessel of trust. If their trust is great, there is no limit to My generosity. The torrents of grace inundate humble souls. The proud remain always in poverty and misery, because My grace turns away from them to humble souls.”
three
Many people convert from their big sins, the grave or mortal sins, but then we settle in for a life of vice:
o Pride, envy, anger, sloth, greed, gluttony, lust, gossip, resentment, hatred, ingratitude…
· And we get stuck there
· This is why we are not happy. Sin destroys happiness. It is that simple. If we want to be happy, peaceful and content then we need to keep converting and root out our vices, take on the virtues and become holy. Holiness is just another world for happiness.
· My life would be a lot easier and a lot better if other people would stop sinning. Well, their lives and my own would be a lot better if I would stop sinning!
Why do we stop and settle for a life of vice?
· Why do we settle for a less fulfilling life?
Daily Examination of Conscience and Frequent Confession keeps the conversion process going in one’s life
four
Before Christmas let’s do a thorough examination of conscience (there is link for a good one in the show notes or with the transcript in the email) and let’s go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. There Jesus will remove your sin and guilt and fill your soul in an even greater way with himself. That is the purpose of Advent.
And let’s invite someone else to go to confession with us. Someone who annoys you with their sin – just kidding.
Invite your spouse or kids or grandkids or a friend.
I have a friend who I admire, she just invites others to go to confession with her. When they object with “Why should I go?” She responds, “If Jesus gave us the sacrament of Confession in John chapter 20, then don’t you think we should use it?”
If you live somewhere where Confession is not available give me a call and I will hear your confession…again, just kidding…
If you are unable to receive the sacrament of Reconciliation your sins may still be forgiven by a thorough examination of conscience and an act of contrition.
The CCC 1451-52 reminds us:
If you are unable to have access to the Sacrament of Confession, the Church invites us to make an act of perfect contrition, that is, of sorrow for sin, which “arises from a love by which God is loved above all else.”
An act of perfect contrition “obtains forgiveness of mortal sins if it includes the firm resolution to have recourse to sacramental confession as soon as possible” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1452).
We should make an examination of conscience and act of contrition every day.
five
Mary began to appear at Medjugorje on the Feast of the Birthday of John the Baptist, June 24, 1981. The date is not by accident. Our Lady comes with the same message as the John the Baptist who prepared for the coming of Jesus Christ: Repent and be converted.
On April 25th 1983 Our Lady gave this message at Medjugorje
Be converted! It will be too late when the sign comes. Beforehand, several warnings will be given to the world. Have people hurry to be converted. I need your prayers and your penance. My heart is burning with love for you. It suffices for you to be converted. To ask questions is unimportant. Be converted. Hurry to proclaim it. Tell everyone that it is my wish, and that I do not cease repeating it. Be converted, be converted…I beg you to be converted. I will pray to my Son to spare you the punishment. Be converted without delay.
Post-Script
Medjugorje
The reported apparitions of Mary in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Hercegovina, June 24, the Feast of the Birth of John the Baptist, 1981 – to the Present moment -Mary has been appearing to Ivan, Jakov, Marija, Mirjana, Vicka, and Ivanka ever since…
Archbishop Henryk Hoser (Poland) head of the Ruini Commission established by Pope Benedict XVI stated: The commission established by Pope Benedict XVI to study the alleged apparitions of Mary at Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, voted overwhelmingly to recognize as real and supernatural the first seven apparitions…
The Church cannot render a final decision
· because the apparitions and messages continue
May 12, 2019, the Vatican officially authorized pilgrimage to Medjugorje and turned the parish church of St. James in Medjugorje not a pontifical shrine under the oversight of the Vatican.
John Paul II commented to the Archbishop of Slovakia, Pavel Hnilca: “Medjugorje is the continuation of Fatima, it is the completion of Fatima.” (Slovimir Oder, Why He is a Saint p. 169)
If you would like to learn more about Medjugorje
· Rene Laurentin: Is the Virgin Mary Appearing at Medjugorje?
· Read the books or watch the lectures on Medjugorje by Dr. Mark Miravalle on You Tube
1 The essence of the Message of Medjugorje is
· Return to God through a greater Faith
· Conversion by means of admitting our sins and going to confession
· Live a changed life – actually live the Golden Rule to treat others as you would have them treat you.
· Then keep converting from sin to grace and from grace to holiness by
o daily by a daily examination of conscience,
o practicing our resolution that flows from daily meditation
o going to confession once a month
· Pray the Rosary every day
· Fast and offer up your daily crosses – by accepting with trust and uniting to the Cross of Jesus
o what you did not choose, do not like and cannot change
· On June 27, 1981 Our Lady said: “Peace, peace…nothing but peace. Men must be reconciled with God and with one another. For this to happen it is necessary to believe, to pray, to fast, to go to confession.”
· On August 6, 1981, the word Peace (Mir) was written in the sky as though by an invisible hand. This sign was repeated several times. Many witnessed it.
· At the end of August 1981 Our Lady revealed: I am the Queen of Peace.
· On June 16, 1983 she said: I have come to tell the world: God is truth. He exists. In him is true happiness and abundance of life. I present myself here as the Queen of Peace to tell the world that peace is necessary for the salvation of the world. In God is found true joy from which true peace flows.
If the Mother of God is appearing, then Jesus is real, then everything must change
2 Our Lady is to give each of the Visionaries 10 secrets to be revealed to the world. The secrets are not the essence of the message but they motivate the urgency of conversion.
· Mirjana, Jakov, and Ivanka have received all ten secrets,
· Marija, Vicka, and Ivan have received nine secrets
The first two secrets are warnings to invite conversion before it is too late. They are undoubtedly, in part dramatic.
The 3rd secret is a sign of hope – A Permanent Sign
· Our Lady will leave a supernatural, permanent and indestructible sign on Apparition Hill where she first appeared.
Each of the 10 Secrets will be revealed to the world in this way:
· 10 days before the date of the event foretold in the secret, Mirjana is to tell the priest that has already been chosen, what will happen and when
· Mirjana and the priest are to pray and fast for 7 days
· Then, 3 days before the event, the priest will reveal the secret to the world
· These events revealed by the secrets can be altered by
o conversion,
o prayer
o and sacrifice and fasting
· Our Lady stated: “Prayer and fasting can stop wars and change the laws of nature.”
3 The General Theme of the Secrets according to the interviews conducted by the late Fr Rene Laurentin
The world has abandoned itself to sin. It wants to live without God and without a moral law. The world denies the existence of God.
There is no God, no devil, no life after death – All that exists is what you see
· We came from nothing,
· there is nothing after death,
o therefore our lives have no meaning or purpose.
Truth and goodness are supposed to guide actions.
But we want to give free reign to passions and violence.
The world is destroying itself.
It is vehemently preparing its own destruction
· Having forgotten God and His law of love:
· Do to others as you would have them do to you.
God is not preparing to punish us.
· We are preparing to destroy ourselves.
There is a Remedy –
· Return to God our Father whom we can trust and love.
· Take care one another because we are all brothers and sisters.
4 The only thing Mirjana will say about the secrets is this: “Our Lady is planning to change the world. She did not come to announce our destruction; she came to save us, and with her Son, she will triumph over evil.”
At Medjugorje Our Lady is Reported to have said: “What I started in Fatima, I will complete in Medjugorje. My heart will triumph.
So - What’s the purpose of the Secrets?
2000 Cardinal Ratzinger: “In this way, the importance of human freedom is underlined: the future is not in fact unchangeably set, and the image that the children saw is in no way a film preview of a future in which nothing can be changed.
Indeed, the whole point of the vision is to bring freedom onto the scene and to steer freedom in a positive direction. The purpose of the vision is not to show a film of an irrevocably fixed future. Its meaning is exactly the opposite: it is meant to mobilize the forces of change in the right direction. Therefore we must totally discount fatalistic explanations of the secret…Rather, the vision speaks of dangers and how we might be saved from them.”
5 We can change the tide of world events and help save souls from hell by three means:
She has given us 5 weapons by which to fight:
I. Consecration to her Immaculate Heart
II. Pray the Rosary every day
III. Be more personally converted each day by means of prayer, the sacraments and the practice of virtue
IV. Leverage your own cross by accepting with trust and offering with love what you did not choose, do not like and cannot change.
V. Live the simple way of life of Friendship through invitation, hospitality, sharing life together and good conversation
a. Fight with effective weapons – glued to the news is not an effective way to fight