The Transforming Power of Grace of God.

-- The Transforming Power of Grace of God.

 

 

 

It is the Lenten season once again.

 

It is the season of conversion and repentance and sincere turning back to God.

   It is not just another Lenten season in which we will be left unchanged.

We have had many of them before.

Let us change at least now.

Let us pray for God’s grace to change us for the better.

 

Can the grace of God change us?

 

 I recently came across an interesting conversion story.

 

  As a child and during his adolescence years, our hero’s heart was filled with hatred for priests and the Catholic Church. 

 

On Sunday mornings, he would look out of the balcony of his house at people going to Mass and spit at them, insult them, and tell them that the Church was just “a sect that wanted their money.”

 

He blatantly refused to receive any religious upbringing and his parents were not believers.

His friends relentlessly invited him to join them in their Catholic Charismatic Renewal prayer group sessions at their parish each Thursday.

He went with them one day just to mock and make fun of them because he believed that they were stupid and dumb people.

 

He described the devotion of this group to be Blessed Sacrament rather humorously, “They were all looking at a golden box at the back of the church. I didn’t know what it was, but I thought it was where the parish priest kept the money.”

 

Strangely, he found himself coming back every Thursday to sit still in front of the Tabernacle.

 

In his words, “Little by little, the love of God was penetrating my heart: I was 15 years old and I started to sing at Mass, which meant I would attend Mass on Saturdays. I liked being in front of the tabernacle and little by little, I realized that God existed and He loved me. I felt the love of God. The Charismatic Renewal group, which I had come to make fun of, helped me a lot.”

 

He eventually received the Sacraments of Initiation and began to attend daily Mass.

 

In the course of his slow conversion that led him to shed many of his earlier ideas about God and the Church, he made a commitment to God in these words, “Lord, I am yours for whatever you need.” 

God took him at his word.

 

He later sensed God inviting him to enter the seminary at the age of 17 to become a priest.

His father was infuriated at his request to become a priest and beat him severely.

His father was more willing to pay for his studies in the United States than to let him become a Catholic priest.

But he bid his time and patiently waited and continued to nurture his vocation till his father finally gave him permission to go to the seminary in May 1999.

He was ordained a priest in 2006 and had the great privilege of administering the Sacrament of Holy Anointing to his father who passed away a few years later.

 

Our hero’s name is Rev.Fr. Juan Jose Martinez of the diocese of Almeria, Spain. 

 

His story is a testament that the grace of God can change us completely.

 The grace of God will work on us if we are ready to belong to Him completely and to do only what pleases Him. 

 

We must be filled with the words, “Lord, I am yours for whatever you need.”

 

  Jesus offers us all the graces that we need.

 

   His grace can affect our lives.

Divine grace transforms us from weaklings to strong persons, strong enough to bear our share of the hardship for the gospel.

The strength comes from God.

 

  It enables us to move away from sinful lives towards love of God and neighbour.

 

It transforms us as His children participating in the very life and love of God.

Jesus saves us by His grace and enables us to lead a holy life.  

 

The story of Fr. Juan, the sufferings that he was ready to endure for his vocation, and his readiness to embark on a new life in the service of God and neighbor are testaments to the transforming power of grace today.

 

 To be transformed from the inside out, we must unite with Jesus and imitate Him.

 

Jesus belongs completely to the Father and always acts to please the Father, not Himself.

Our desire to change for the better is a sign that God’s grace has begun its work on us.

It is also a sign of God’s presence in our lives.

What we have to do is to surrender to Him completely.

We should be spiritually strong enough to fight our spiritual battles; God’s grace gives us this strength.

It saves from our sinful addictions 

It enables us to live holy lives and thus to enjoy the peace and joy that comes from God.

 

  Our heart can be changed for the better only if it is inspired and infused with the grace of God; on our part we must have sincere desire to belong to Him for His good pleasure.

  “Lord, I am yours for whatever you need.”

Lourdu Selvam.