How do you explain so many souls abandoning a life of sin or paganism to embrace the Cross of Christ, in the hope of eternal happiness? What did they do to effect such a radical change? What merit did they have? None! They converted simply because God wanted them to: they received the grace of conversion and merely placed no obstacles in its way.
It is the Most High who seeks souls, as St. Thomas explains to us. He calls conversion to “rise from sin” (Summa Theologiæ. I-II, q.109, a.7) and states that man “cannot be restored by himself; but he requires the light of grace to be poured upon him anew, as if the soul were infused into a dead body for its resurrection” (a.7, ad 2).
To be able to speak of conversion, it is assumed that there is some deficiency in the soul, if not the absence or loss of the habitual grace infused into them at Baptism. And “that they are ‘turned’ to God can only spring from God’s having ‘turned’ them” (a.6), the Angelic Doctor comments. This is because “When nature is perfect, it can be restored by itself to its befitting and proportionate condition; but without exterior help it cannot be restored to what surpasses its measure” (a.7, ad 3).
The Lord does not want the sinner to die, but to convert and live (cf. Ez 18:23). And for this He asks only for their co-operation, urging them to allow themselves to be led: “when man by his free-will, moved by God, strives to rise from sin, he receives the light of justifying grace” (a.7, ad 1).
However, once the act of sin has ceased, the debt of the penalty remains, which is the sinner’s condition as a defendant who must make reparation for the offence committed. Furthermore, the Aquinate asserts that sin, by its deformity, taints the soul by depriving it of the lustre of grace, corrupts and disorders nature, so that the human will does not to submit to God (cf. a.7).
Thus, the reparation of these three evils, continues St. Thomas, invariably requires divine intervention: “For since the lustre of grace springs from the shedding of divine light, this lustre cannot be brought back, except God sheds His light anew. […] Likewise, the order of nature can only be restored, i.e. man’s will can only be subject to God when God draws man’s will to Himself, as stated above. So, too, the guilt of eternal punishment can be remitted by God alone, against whom the offense was committed and who is man’s Judge” (a.7). Therefore, he concludes, without the help of grace as a habitual gift and a divine internal motion, there can be no conversion.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Rv 3:20). The grace of conversion is and always will be God’s initiative! ◊
