{"id":4140,"date":"2012-11-15T00:58:22","date_gmt":"2012-11-15T06:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marccardaronella.com\/?p=4140"},"modified":"2012-11-26T12:33:47","modified_gmt":"2012-11-26T18:33:47","slug":"why-catechesis-is-about-conversion-or-its-about-nothing-at-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marccardaronella.com\/blog\/2012\/11\/15\/why-catechesis-is-about-conversion-or-its-about-nothing-at-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Catechesis is About Conversion, or It’s About Nothing At All"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"conversion<\/a>
Conversion–go beyond the mind that you have<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Christian life is about conversion.<\/p>\n

The National Directory for Catechesis says,\u00a0<\/em>“The Christian faith is, above all, conversion to Jesus Christ” (p. 48).<\/p>\n

The first words out of Jesus’ mouth in Mark’s gospel are, “The kingdom of God is at hand, therefore, repent and believe the good news.”<\/p>\n

This is the first thing he has to say. The kingdom of God is hand.<\/p>\n

What\u00a0would that mean to the\u00a0people who\u00a0heard him? Well, they all knew what a king was…and the kingdom is built up\u00a0around him. The king sets the tone for the kingdom. He calls the shots.<\/p>\n

If you come under\u00a0the auspices of a new king, it means a new order, a new way of doing things. Now the Kingdom of God is here. God is in control.<\/p>\n

So, what should you do? Repent! Convert!
\n<\/p>\n

What is conversion?<\/h2>\n

I love the way Fr. Robert Barron puts this in his video series Conversion<\/em>. He says in the Gospel of Mark, the Greek word for repent is\u00a0metanoiate<\/em>. It\u00a0can also mean convert, but there’s another meaning with a deeper significance.<\/p>\n

It comes from two smaller words,\u00a0“meta<\/em>” and “nous<\/em>,” which literally means “go beyond the mind that you have.”<\/p>\n

The kingdom of\u00a0God has arrived. God’s new order is ready to unfold. Don’t stay stuck in the sad realm of what came before. Sin rules there. Limitation rules there. Separation from\u00a0the Infinite is\u00a0the order there.<\/p>\n

Instead, go beyond the attitudes and perspectives you’ve developed through your own thinking and open yourself\u00a0to the larger possibilities now available through God.<\/p>\n

Why don’t we convert?<\/h2>\n

What do we do instead? We stick to what we know. We’re afraid to trust in\u00a0God. Afraid of what his expansiveness might require of us. It seems foreign and painful.<\/p>\n

However, when you’re united\u00a0with him, you’re united to “that power which is here and now creating the whole universe, and that links you in turn to everything and everybody else,” Fr. Barron says.<\/p>\n

When you join yourself to\u00a0the kingdom of God, he is now in control. The author of life is the Lord of your life. And he is working in you, creating in you, expanding you to fit him.<\/p>\n

Catechesis is about conversion or it’s about nothing at all.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Changed by the working of grace–the aim of catechesis<\/h2>\n

Pope John Paul II said in Catechesi Tradendae<\/em> (On Catechesis In Our Time)<\/em>:<\/p>\n

“Catechesis aims therefore at developing understanding of the mystery of Christ in the light of God’s word, so that the whole of a person’s humanity is impregnated by that word. Changed by the working of grace into a new creature, the Christian thus sets himself to follow Christ and learns more and more within the Church to think like Him, to judge like Him, to act in conformity with His commandments, and to hope as He invites us to.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Catechesis seeks to develop an\u00a0understanding of\u00a0Christ’s saving work in us so that a person is impregnated by it.\u00a0Once changed by \u00a0grace into “a new creature,” the person aligns himself with\u00a0Christ. He\u00a0thinks like him, acts like him, judges like him.<\/p>\n

In other words, he “goes beyond the mind that he has” and puts on the mind of Christ. The expansive, creative, powerful mind of\u00a0the Lord of\u00a0the universe.<\/p>\n

Catechetical takeaway<\/h2>\n

Catechesis is about conversion. The whole\u00a0Christian life is about conversion. And, your job as a catechist is\u00a0the make that\u00a0happen.<\/p>\n

Not the conversion part, that’s\u00a0the Holy Spirit’s job. You have to open your student’s minds and get them to consider that “beyond” of\u00a0God. You have to develop that understanding of the mystery that will impregnate the Word into their souls.<\/p>\n

Like it or not, facilitating conversion is\u00a0the task of\u00a0the catechist. Make this your mission and change the world.<\/p>\n

Image courtesy of [Dan] \/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Catechesis is an invitation to change perspective, to expand your attitudes, to go beyond the mind that you have. It’s about conversion. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catechesis","post-wrapper","thrv_wrapper"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Catechesis is About Conversion, or It's About Nothing At All - Marc Cardaronella<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/marccardaronella.com\/blog\/2012\/11\/15\/why-catechesis-is-about-conversion-or-its-about-nothing-at-all\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Catechesis is About Conversion, or It's About Nothing At All - Marc Cardaronella\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Catechesis is an invitation to change perspective, to expand your attitudes, to go beyond the mind that you have. 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