INSIDE america

Our Conversion
Builds Unity
Conversion is not merely a change in our moral behavior. It is not only a matter
of morality, of being sorry for our sins. Conversion is the beginning of a new creation
that changes the way we look at and experience reality

By Lorenzo Albacete

The point of departure for following Christ is the desire for happiness in the human heart. All human desires are expressions of this original, defining desire, a desire that cannot be satisfied by any of the objects of our particular desires.
In John’s Gospel, the first words of Jesus to His would-be followers John and Andrew concerned their desires: “What do you want?” As disciples of John the Baptist, John and Andrew knew that behind all particular desires is the desire for God. The Baptist had pointed to Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s promises. Therefore, John and Andrew wanted to know where they could be with Him. So they asked, “Rabbi, where do You remain?”
The Baptist’s ministry was limited to one geographic place: outside the city, in the desert, on the shores of the Jordan River. Jesus, however, did not remain at a particular location. If His disciples wanted to be with Him, they had to go where He went; they had to follow Him. “Come and see,” He replied.
John the Baptist’s location in the desert was symbolic of the beginning of the history of Israel, to which the people had to return as a gesture of conversion in order to repent for their infidelity and begin again their journey toward the fulfillment of their desire. In the case of Jesus, however, every particular location was to be a place of conversion. There was no particular privileged place. It is the presence of Jesus that makes each place a place for conversion and for the fulfillment of God’s promises; a place for a “new beginning.”
Conversion is not merely a change in our moral behavior. It is not only a matter of morality, of being sorry for our sins. Conversion is the outcome of the gift of the Holy Spirit from the Risen Christ. Something truly new is born from conversion, something that goes beyond our spiritual strength. Conversion is the beginning of a new creation that changes the way we look at and experience reality. Through it, the presence of Jesus transforms each place, each moment, and each circumstance as a place where a miracle occurs. This miracle is the creation of the Church, the realization and manifestation of that communion that is the life of the Church.
As a place of encounter with Jesus, of being with Him, each place is called to be a place where the mystery of the Church takes root. We are called to make the Church present wherever we are, in whatever situation we find ourselves. It is not that we discover a communion, a “unity” that is already there and we suddenly see it and embrace it. Rather, it is our conversion that builds this unity, a unity based on companionship with Jesus as the fulfillment of the desire that burns in the human heart. This is what makes the Church present.
This is the vocation given to us: to make the mystery of the Church, to make the communion that is the Church, the unity that is the Church, present everywhere and in all circumstances. Thus, we are never alone. Wherever we live our desires as the way to companionship with Christ, the Church is present with us.