Morning meditation on conversion

Morning meditation by Fr. Donald Haggerty:

"It should not be surprising that a desire for a simpler lifestyle is a common impulse after a serious conversion. This is not just the result of new discipline. The shock of finding God in a personal encounter, and of being known to him, is a penetrating light cast upon life itself. Standing before eternity, so to speak, is a jolting experience and awakens a realization that so many gratifications sought in this life are empty, and unworthy. The awareness of time catches hold of our soul with a keen sense of the transiency and impermanence of the things of this life. What a year earlier might have been a coveted object to possess, a desire or ambition to be pursued, seems now unmasked for its paltry insignificance. It is truly as though a light from heaven had shone on the worldly pleasures and gratifications that formerly occupied out life with hardly a thought.

This stripping away of the gloss and sheen covering much of life is a kind of revelation to the soul. The emptiness of the pursuit of self-gratification is soon tasted and often leaves a lasting aversion to indulgent habits in life. It is not surprising, then that we turn to a difference source of satisfaction. The life of prayer begins to attract us more. A kind of disinterest in chasing after chimeras roots itself in the soul. The result in part is the greater simplicity of lifestyle seen after every deeper conversion." Magnificat, May 2024, pp. 355-56

Fr. Donald Haggerty, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, is currently serving at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. He has been a Professor of Moral Theology at St. Joseph’s Seminary in New York and Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Maryland and has a long association as a spiritual director for Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity. He is the author of many books.

I agree with Mr. Obama!

Catching the ABC interview this morning, I found one thing on which we agree. It is offensive, very offensive, for some Christians to question his faith. He's offended, and so am I. I don't like it at all when "holier than thou" Christians question why I'm not a dispensationalist, or why I'm a 6 day creationist, or why I don't support the death penalty based on my faith. Who are you to judge? Jesus' work on the Cross on our behalf is about salvation, not about agreeing on the theological details. Jesus was apolitical, and the only stake he has in this election is how Christians behave themselves. It's ugly all around.

Have you ever read his testimony? I'd match it against most members in any one of the mainline Protestant churches and many evangelical. (I saw it at a UCC site.) Whenever I meet a new person at my church, the chances are 99.9% that they aren't a convert, they are a transfer. We Christians are making little impact because we just keep trading off our members. We are to be presenting our testimony not to amuse ourselves or increase memberships, but to make converts. If you don't like that, take it up with Jesus Christ.

Mr. Obama and Mr. Jindal are both the face of America, one whose father and extended family was/is Muslim and the other whose family is/was Hindu. Both are converts to Christianity and have achieved political power in our times that almost couldn't have been believed 10 years ago. I side with Jindal on his conservative politics, but I'm thrilled both are going to be in heaven with me. I'm in this for the long haul, not for November 2008. There will be no political rancor there; only worship.