 |
| Jose de Ribera - Repentance of St Peter |
Mt 11:11-15
Jesus greatly extolled the virtue of John the Baptist
saying, “of all the children born of women, a greater than John the Baptist has
never been seen…” John was called by God to be the last prophet that would
prepare for the coming Messiah. John exhorted people to repentance, to
conversion. The preparation needed was an inner change that would reject sin
and embrace belief in the promises of God. This call to conversion is an
essential part of the proclamation of the Kingdom, and Jesus exhorted people to
“repent, and believe in the gospel”.
Since I left the Church of England and entered the full
communion of the Catholic Church, many Catholics refer to me as a ‘convert’.
Although as Abbot David explained to us at our Reception, strictly speaking
converts are those who convert from one religion to another, or, from no
religion to faith. We were not changing our religion; we were being reconciled
with the Holy See. Our baptism was valid and good, and after accepting all the
Catholic Church proposes for our belief we were then entering into full
communion. That was helpful to all of us entering the Catholic Church because
it didn’t feel we were denying the good things of our life in the Church of
England but embracing a more complete Christian faith. It wasn’t a new faith
but it was fuller, more integrated and had a bigger vision than we had known as
Anglicans.
However, without contradicting what I had said about
converts, there is a sense in which all Christians are converts! Christ’s call
to conversion, as the Catechism says (CCC 1427-9), continues to be at play in
our lives. The major conversion is our baptism. The ongoing conversion of our
lives according to the gospel is what the catechism calls the second conversion. The whole Church is
about this and it is an ongoing purification throughout life, and if necessary
on into Purgatory. It is cooperation with the grace of Christ in His Church,
and most especially through the gift of the Sacrament of Penance.
St Peter, of course, is a very good example of this. For
though he had professed Jesus as His Lord and Saviour, and the Son of the Most
High, yet Peter denied his Master three times. After repenting with tears, he
went on to give a threefold affirmation of love for Christ.
…there
are water and tears: the water of Baptism, and the tears of repentance. St Ambrose
So in this season of Advent especially, let us hear and take
to heart the exhortation to conversion. Let us make use of the gift of the
Sacrament of Penance, and remember we are all, in a sense, converts!
