A NEW YEAR : A NEW CALL TO CONVERSION

Carlo and Maria Carla Volpini

The new year that began a few days ago calls us once again to conversion. ‘Conversion’: a word often used but difficult to understand and live up to. Formerly, it was easier. To be converted had a precise meaning: to choose a particular Creed in preference to another, or to repent from a rather dissolute life and return to the straight path, or - better still - to make a good and holy confession! Today, things are more complex because each one of us is called to a constant conversion and the adjective ‘constant’ changes everything! It is no longer therefore a once-and-for-all initiative or single choice, but it is a matter of an attitude of life that commits us on a daily basis.

To be converted means to seek God. What does seeking God mean today? It necessarily entails “discerning what is God’s will today”, to what is he calling us today? In what direction and towards whom do we need to ‘con-vert’, that is to say, to turn? We need to have a listening ear to the world and to listen to the deepest expectations of our brothers and sisters. We need to take their desires and quest seriously. We need to understand what lights up their heart as well as, on the contrary, what arouses fear and mistrust in them. “Discerning what is God’s will today” requires a genuine commitment on our part. It means being willing to make a generous effort to come out of our self and look at others. “Discerning what is God’s will today” requires a commitment to “get close”, that is to say to be constantly willing to seek an encounter with the ‘other’, to make oneself a ‘neighbour’. This means to draw closer to someone and be prepared to enter into a two-way dialogue, being willing to abandon our personal agenda, our selfishness, our individualism.

Today, more than ever, the word ‘conversion’ cannot exist without the word ‘reconciliation’. There is no peace without justice, no justice without forgiveness, no conversion without reconciliation. These two words are closely connected. Indeed, what act of faith, what testimony of faith, what life of faith would be possible without a genuine and free relationship between people? How is one to seek God other than by seeking a God incarnated in history, in the human face of Christ? What sort of conversion to God would exclude a relationship with our brothers and sisters?

Is not the greatest step to faith for people today the awareness that God does not ask us simply to love him for Himself but to love him through other people? Our faith is not credible if it does not call into action our capacity to forgive, to welcome, to let ‘the other’ live in us whether this ‘other’ is someone close or distant? No true relationship is possible if it is not built upon a constant reconciliation of the diversities that characterise our society, that sometimes complete us or, at other times, distance us, but which enrich us in any case. Conversion is an ongoing initiative of convergence between possible diversities. Would ‘uniformity’ really bring about the fullness of faith?

Conversion is also a favourable time for personal growth and not only in faith. In our journey of discovery, failure becomes a help to reflection, disorientation can lead to looking into oneself, and repentance can become a search for alternative ways to give direction to our lives. Conversion can give substance to our lives that have become monotonous and insipid.

It may seem simplistic to speak of rediscovering values and meaning to life just as it is self-evident to affirm that society must re-stabilise itself around shared ideals. We are all agreed on this… perhaps? But it is only once we have felt the necessity to progress from “I” to “we”, from individualistic thinking to community thinking, that we will perhaps succeed in experiencing a new time of conversion.

The adjective “constant” linked to conversion then re-appears vested with new significance. We, men and women, are called to pursue in a constant way our human journey to the end. At every moment, life brings us something new, questioning and challenging us. It expects new answers from us. It transforms us. From this point of view, we are all converts and we all want to be people on our way to conversion right to the end. All of us, couples and priests in Teams, are called to respond once more and with renewed commitment, to the call of conversion so as to be mirrors of God’s love in a world that is ever more “hungry” for love.

Mais, aujourd’hui plus que jamais, le mot conversion ne peut exister sans le mot réconciliation. Il y n'a pas de paix sans justice, il y n'a pas de justice sans pardon, il y n'a pas de conversion sans réconciliation : ces deux mots sont en connexion étroite. En effet, quel acte de foi, quel témoignage de foi, quelle vie de foi seraient possibles sans une authentique et libre relation entre les hommes ? Quelle recherche de Dieu, sinon la recherche d'un Dieu incarné dans l’histoire et dans le visage humain du Christ ? Quelle conversion vers Dieu si nous excluons la relation avec nos frères ?

N’est-ce pas le plus grand pas effectué par les hommes d'aujourd'hui sur leur chemin de foi ? La prise de conscience que Dieu ne demande pas simplement de l'aimer pour Lui-même mais de L’aimer au travers des hommes ! Notre foi n’est pas crédible si elle ne mobilise pas toute notre capacité de pardonner, d’accueillir, de faire vivre en nous l'autre qu’il soit proche ou lointain. Aucune relation authentique n’est possible si elle n’est fondée sur une constante réconciliation des diversités qui nous caractérisent, qui parfois nous complètent, ou d’autrefois nous éloignent, mais qui nous enrichissent de toute façon. La conversion est une démarche continue de convergence entre les diversités possibles : ’uniformité rendrait-elle la plénitude de la foi ?

La conversion est aussi un temps propice à la croissance personnelle, et pas seulement dans l'optique de la foi. Dans ce chemin de recherche, la faille devient favorable à la réflexion, la désorientation peut devenir une voie d’introspection, le repentir peut devenir recherche de parcours alternatifs pour réorienter nos vies. La conversion peut redonner consistance à nos vies, devenues parfois monotones et insipides.

Il peut paraître simpliste de parler de retrouver les valeurs et le sens de la vie, comme il est banal d’affirmer que la société doit se rééquilibrer autour des idéaux partagés : nous sommes tous d'accord… peut-être. Mais c’est seulement quand nous sentirons la nécessité de passer du « je » au « nous », d’une pensée individualiste à une pensée communautaire, qu’alors, peut-être, nous réussirons à vivre un nouveau temps de conversion.

L’adjectif « constante » joint à la conversion revient alors, revêtu d’une nouvelle signification. Hommes et femmes , nous sommes appelés à continuer d’une façon constante la marche de notre humanité jusqu’à la fin : à chaque moment, la vie nous apporte quelque chose de nouveau qui nous interroge, nous interpelle, attend de nouvelles réponses, nous transforme.

Dans cette perspective nous sommes tous des convertis et nous voulons tous être, jusqu’à la fin, des personnes qui cheminent sur la route de la conversion.

Et nous tous, couples et prêtres des E.N.D., nous sommes appelés à répondre encore une fois et avec un engagement renouvelé, à la conversion pour être reflet de l'amour de Dieu dans un monde toujours plus « affamé » d'amour.