St.Joseph's Church, Arimalam

"Be converted with all your heart," the Lord says. My brothers, if he had just said "Be converted" without adding anything, perhaps we should have been able to reply: it's done; now you can give us something else to do. But if I understand correctly, Christ is speaking to us here about a spiritual conversion that does not come about in a day. May it even be achieved in our lifetime! So pay attention to what you love, what you fear, at what makes you happy or what makes you sad and you will sometimes see that, beneath your religious habit you are still a man of the world. Indeed, the heart is wholly contained in these four feelings and it is concerning them, I think, we must understand these words: "Be converted to the Lord with all your heart." May your loving be converted in such a way that you love nothing but the Lord, or rather that you love nothing except for God's sake. May your fear also be turned towards him, for any fear that makes us afraid of something apart from him and not because of him is bad. May your joy and your sadness be converted to him; this is how it will be if you neither suffer nor rejoice except in him. Thus, if you mourn for your own sins or those of your neighbor you do well and your sadness is salutary. If you rejoice in the gifts of grace, this joy is holy and you are able ot enjoy it in peace in the Holy Spirit. In the love of Christ you should be glad of your brothers' good fortunes and sympathize with their misfortunes according to this verse: "Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep." (Rm 12:15)

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Come back to me with all your heart

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