When we speak of conversion, long-ago figures typically come to mind, such as Paul of Tarsus, Magdalene and Augustine – all of them saints who were converted after forays into the abysses of sin. As for the nature of conversion, many commentaries have been made about the term metanoia, which means a change of mentality.
However, it would be intellectually short-sighted to limit conversion to these individual and temporal cases, or to a superficial type of “mental reform” promised wholesale by charlatans of yesterday and today. Conversion is the very essence of the mission of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who called Himself the “Way” (Jn 14:6) to the Father.
Sacred Scripture abounds in metaphors to illustrate conversion: it is a transition from darkness to light (cf. Acts 26:18), from life according to the flesh to that according to the spirit (cf. Gal 6:8), a second birth (cf. Jn 3:6), the passage from a state of death to life (cf. Jn 5:21-29). In short, it is about stripping off the “old man” in order to put on the new (cf. Col 3:9-10).
Conversion is part of the Church’s mission to evangelize not only individuals, but also large groups. Already in the Old Testament, Jonah converted the great city of Nineveh by his preaching (cf. Jn 3:4-10). And in the early days of the Apostolic Church, the number of converts totalled 5,000, counting only men (cf. Acts 4:4).
Later, millions converted after the Baptism of King Clovis on Christmas of 496. A hundred years after, Pope St. Gregory the Great sent forty monks under the aegis of St. Augustine of Canterbury to the then indomitable Britannia, which Caesar had already tried to subdue with six thousand soldiers… Soon the monarch Ethelbert was converted, and then the whole kingdom. What had been impossible for six Roman legions was realized with what is known as the “Gregorian mission”…
We can also mention the great influence that Charlemagne had on the conversion of the Slavic peoples, starting with Moravia; and cite the conversion of Albigensians by St. Dominic, of Calvinists by St. Francis de Sales, of Lutherans by St. Peter Canisius, of thousands of Hindus by St. Francis Xavier, and of countless native Indians… by Our Lady herself, under the invocation of Guadalupe. Let us also remember the case of Rwanda, which, after the First World War, went from fifteen thousand Catholics to five hundred and fifty thousand in just twenty-five years, thanks to the apostolate of the Missionaries of Africa, the so-called “White Fathers”.
What is more, it is clear that Our Lady’s appeals at Fatima point to a universal conversion. But when will this come about? We must hope with all the strength of our souls that it be today! In fact, St. Augustine once said about the time of conversion: “Si aliquando, cur non modo? – If someday, why not now?”
In fact, both John the Baptist and Christ Himself, after calling for the aforementioned metanoia, add: “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Mt 3:2; 4:17). And with these same words, Jesus summoned the Apostles to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (cf. Mt 10:6-7). Now, if today the flock is increasingly straying from the path, it is more timely than ever to proclaim to the four corners: “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”! ◊
