Today is Ash Wednesday, if you don't know what that means it means that a bunch of people will be knowingly walking around with big black smudges on their foreheads. Of course we had a fun little conversation this morning about things like "CanI give up leggings for lent?" and "is Coffee considered a meal" but everything got theological when erin sent this:
"Convert- To cause a change in form, character, or function.
This is the definition of the word convert. I am a convert to the Catholic faith, and I find that all true Catholics are converts. Now before you grab your catechism and your righteous indignation off of the shelf allow me explain why. We as humans are fallen. Since the Eve ate the forbidden fruit and brought sin into the world the human race has been drawn to sin. If we were true to our call to take up our cross and follow Christ we are required to change our hearts, and turn them towards Christ. We are called to literally convert ourselves and reorient our hearts and minds towards God, instead of towards sin. This can require some life changes, as any convert can attest to. Your habits, language, music, and even your friends can change. And all of us everyday have this opportunity to quite literally change our lives for better or worse because of our god given ability to choose. With every choice that we make we create a world in which we must live, and this is because we have the gift of free will. Free will is one of the greatest gifts given to us, but also the one that gets us into the most trouble. Some might say, and have said, that we are condemned to choose. And even though our choices define us we can make better choices at any given time. Saint Augustine is one of our greatest examples of this. He was a man whose debauchery would put even Christian Grey to shame, and then he had a conversion and became one of the greatest saints known to us. He isn’t alone in this though, many of our greatest saints made some of the worst of choices, and then because of a change of heart would become amazing examples of holy men and women. Our faith has that wonderfully romantic belief that any man or woman can completely and totally change themselves for the better, and all by the Grace of God. And you don’t just need to take my word for it, Saint Paul already said it better than I could ever hope to “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more." But to do its work grace must uncover sin so as to convert our hearts and bestow on us "righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.""Erin and I are in the same boat, both converts trying to figure out the rest of the whole catholic thing. This totally made me change my mind on what it meant to be a convert. A convert is not a person that changes from Baptist to Catholic, we should daily convert ourselves from sinners to new Livers. (is that a word? Can I say that?) We should always be true to ourselves and find our own peace. That's what I love about the catholic church, I find so much peace in knowing that my God is in a physical form through the Eucharist during mass and at adoration. Something I will never be able to explain is the peace that I felt going to my firs mass, it was like everything came into place. I didn't need to worry about what I was going to wear tomorrow at school or who heard me jamming out to T-Swift in my car. Everything seemed to fall into place and make total sense in a chaotic world.
During this Lenten season I challenge you to find your peace, wether that be through reading the daily scripture or sitting in adoration. Find what make your faith alive and live for it not just during these 40 days but all 365.
My friend Alyssa just posted a great blog post about "The realness of life" she's so great at her blog so go give it some love! :)
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