CONVERSION
The Goal of Evangelization.
Just one more time, then we will make a comparative study between Pope Benedict’s schema on the ‘New Evangelization,’ the schema in the “Lineamenta” sent by the Congregation to all the Bishops, and the “Instrumentum laboris” which is the schema of the compilation of all the responses made by the bishops around the world in response to the ‘Lineamenta.’
Again! There are two levels of knowledge in man. The first is natural knowledge: this consists of everything man can know through his natural faculties. The other is supernatural knowledge; this consists of all Divine knowledge, like Divine Revelation, the Blessed Trinity and, in short, how to go to heaven. Supernatural knowledge is totally inaccessible to man. Man can only learn these divine knowledge through infusion by God.
Through CONVERSION man tries to rise up from the natural level to the supernatural level. ‘Evangelization’ is teaching men how to undergo ‘Conversion.’ Pope Benedict has been telling us to concentrate on Conversion because that is the only role man has to accomplish for the salvation of his soul. After Conversion everything else is God’s work which consists in Perfection. The goal of Evangelization is the conversion of souls that leads to Faith. From Faith on is God’s work.
Christ preached conversion: “Repent, believe.” Repent is another word for conversion. And it leads to Faith which is in the supernatural level. The New Testament, the Fathers of the Church, the Doctors of the Church and the writings of the saints are all about conversion. They cannot teach more because everything after conversion is God’s work.
To evangelize is to teach souls how to rise from the natural level up to the supernatural level where God, Himself, will teach the supernatural truths like Divine Revelation. Pope Benedict noticed that the error that occurred in seminaries is that professors taught the supernatural truths without teaching souls how to climb to the supernatural level. If the professor does not go to the supernatural level he will not be able to give the supernatural meanings of Divine Revelations. And if the seminarian is not taught how to rise up to the supernatural level he will not be able to understand supernatural truths even if explained by St. Thomas of Aquinas. Pope Benedict is urging today both professor and seminarian to rise up to the supernatural level …and this is through the process of Evangelization. It is an invitation for both to undergo ‘Conversion’ that leads to ‘Porta Fidei.’ Without ‘Conversion’ souls cannot have Faith, Hope and Charity. And as a consequence cannot have Eternal life.
The Apostles Evangelized by preaching ‘conversion’ of life. The listeners listened and obeyed the commands that led to ‘conversion’ or change of life. The process by which the Apostles preached ‘Conversion’ of life and by which the listeners obeyed thus changing their lives is……Evangelization. What follows, namely, Faith, Hope, Charity and eventually Eternal Life are God’s exclusive role. Note why Pope Benedict was constantly insistent on the importance of “Conversion” and encouraged us to stick to that alone. Because ‘Conversion’ is the only role assigned by God to man in saving his soul. The Holy Father enumerated ‘Conversion’ as the first step among the four steps needed for the salvation of our souls. The second, third and fourth steps are God’s exclusive domain. So the Holy Father discussed ‘Conversion’ lengthily while hardly discussing the last three steps .
To show the urgency of the matter, as early as October last year , Rome issued a ‘Lineamenta,’ that is a draft on the “new Evangelization” that leads to “Porta Fidei” for the Bishop’s Synod this October and sent it to all bishops around the world for their reaction. Their reactions had been received and collated in a document called “Instrumentum Laboris.”
Of course, we all expected the ‘Lineamenta’ and ‘Instrumentum Laboris’ would be working on the ideas of the Holy Father on the ‘New Evangelization” that will lead Catholic souls to the ‘Door of Faith’ and eventually Eternal Life. Those documents should be explaining how the lost of Faith that is prevalent in the Catholic Church has been caused by the inability of souls to mature in their conversion of life due to very poor Evangelization. So the documents should ‘evangelize’ by teaching souls how to undergo ‘Conversion’ so that they may again have or regain the theological virtue of Faith that God gives only to those who have undergone full conversion ‘ad Deum’, as St. Augustine would say.
However the Lineamenta comes out stating; that because the ‘New Evangelization “is directed at people who are already baptized the question of ‘Conversion’ doesn’t really arise – in theory they are already in the Church.” If Evangelization is directed to the conversion of souls, and there is not need for conversion, therefore, there is no need for Evangelization.
And this is the common belief. Because they are baptized, because they are priest and nuns, because they are bishops, because they belong to ecclesial community, because they have bishop friends, because…because…they are already inside the Catholic Church and does not need ‘Conversion.’
Wait a minute! The Holy Father stated that what we have is a ‘Crisis of Faith.’ That means people have no Faith, they are outside the Catholic Church, they have no grace, they have no virtue whatsoever, they know nothing about the teachings of the Catholic Church, their minds are filled with heresies, their hearts and minds are in love with the world and with themselves, they are ‘adversus’ a Deo. And the Lineamenta states that they are already inside the Church. Where are the Catholic Signs of One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. Where are the more than 30 signs enumerated during the more than 30 Sundays in Ordinary time. Or at least where are the five general signs given by St. Thomas of Aquinas. “The question of ‘Conversion’ doesn’t really arise.” ……when the Pope had been repeating the great need for ‘Conversion.’
And the Bishops all around the world responded to that Lineamenta accepting fully that great presumption that we are already Catholics and do not need conversion. If Bishop’s and priest use the “Instrumentum Laboris” based on the Lineamenta with the erroneous presumption that there is no need for ‘Conversion’ this coming “Year of Faith” will be a total disaster. Why? Because Faith will only be given to us by God after a total life of ‘Conversion.’ And the “Year of Faith” was meant by the Holy Father for all Catholics to check if they have the right theological virtue of Faith that comes only after conversion. To tell the Catholic World that there is no need for conversion because they are all already converted for whatever reason is to prevent all souls from having Faith. He who does not believe is already condemned.