METANOIA
WHAT IS PERSONAL CHANGE?
This is the next covenant with God that we establish in this Mission after our Consecration: Metanoia (Met-uh-noi-uh)—a profound spiritual transformation, a conversion or awakening, a fundamental change of character—a shift in our hearts toward God. This must happen step by step because it is a radical transformation of our lives.
We must wholeheartedly decide to stop offending God in all things, to die to ourselves and the things of this world. These initial awakenings of conscience must soon be accompanied by a sorrowful spirit and compunction of the heart. It is a sincere and contrite desire to be one with God, a plea to never again be separated from Him. It is the cry of the lost child who has been found.
HOW CAN WE CHANGE PERSONALLY?
Our Church teaches us that we have been made holy and blameless through our baptism and confirmation. However, these initiations have not removed the vulnerability within our human nature to sin. This is the laborious effort of conversion—the redemptive struggle to which we are all called. In Mark 1:15, we read: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel.”
It is through faith in the Gospel and baptism that we renounce and reject evil; it is where the door to eternal life is opened, intensified, and made imminently possible through the gift of a new life—a metanoia. It is precisely in consecration that a grace awaits all humanity: the grace of conversion. A gift for all who, even for a moment, allow the Holy Spirit to move them enough to say: “Yes, Father… I am sorry, please forgive me and help me, Lord. I beg You to help me!”
It must always be understood that this second conversion to which we refer is a work of the entire Church—a continuous task. But this task is not solely our effort; rather, it is primarily God’s work, as Psalm 51 reminds us:
"This task of conversion is not merely a human endeavor. It is the movement of a contrite heart, drawn and moved by grace to respond to the merciful love of God, who loved us first.”
In His great love for each of us, He will give us a new heart, a new life with Him, for those who call out to Him from the depths of their hearts: “Save me, O Lord, for I am a sinner!”
God’s call is, therefore, the author of conversion. It is, above all, a grace of God that helps us to understand and then freely accept the need to radically change our lives—a path toward becoming God’s children, a burning desire to know, love, and serve God our Father with all our hearts, in the way shown by Jesus.
It is a time to exorcise sin and cease offending our Father in our daily lives. With a sincere and contrite heart, we turn away from evil and, therefore, from sin. His love becomes the center of our daily lives and existence, restoring everything and giving us the daily strength to reject the evil and wickedness of this world, as well as its traps, falsehoods, and deceptions.
MEANS TO ACHIEVE THIS METANOIA
As our hearts open, unguarded and vulnerable, we may feel, perhaps for the first time, the embrace of our Father. This is when a dialogue with God can begin, a relationship with Him through prayer from the heart. It is at this moment that this ongoing interior conversion manifests itself through visible signs, gestures, and acts of penance.
The Church teaches that interior penance must primarily take three forms: fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. These express conversion in relation to oneself, to God, and to others. Efforts to reconcile, tears of repentance, concern for the salvation of others, the intercession of saints, and acts of charity are all ways to obtain forgiveness of sins. The more we confess, the more we repent, the more is revealed to us, and the more we are nourished within this metanoia, with the food of God that nourishes the soul, which until this moment, was malnourished.
Conversion takes place in daily life through concern for the poor, the practice and defense of justice and righteousness, acknowledgment of faults, fraternal correction, examination of life, spiritual direction, acceptance of suffering, enduring persecution for the sake of righteousness, and taking up the daily cross to follow Jesus—this is the most secure path of penance.
Here, the Mission suggests ways to grow spiritually by deepening our understanding of our faith and its principles, including:
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The Three Levels of the Mission
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The Suggested Daily Practices
Let us remember that God desires the salvation of all people and for us to come to the knowledge of the truth. As our Lord says in John 6:37:
"I will never reject anyone who comes to me.”
He continues in Luke 11:
"Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you… How much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
Let us draw near to our Father with great confidence and love, as His children who expect everything from His goodness. We remain steadfast in the certainty that this journey toward union with Him has been made possible through our Lord Jesus Christ, and that all we need to do is ask, seek, and knock. The graces we need will be given.
Our God is good! He is our Father and He loves us! All He desires from each of us is that we love Him with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind. This is the fulfillment of a life as a child of God. Only then can we understand the way, the need, the call to citizenship in Heaven, to Eternity… to love one another.
INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR OF METANOIA
CAROL RIVERA PÉREZ
¡Contact us!
c.rivera.mx@fortheloveofgodworldwide.org
cambiopersonal@porelamordediosentodoelmundo.org
