Conversion must be from the heart. And
in the Gospel, Jesus endorsed the three pillars, the spiritual exercises of
fasting, almsgiving, and of course, the importance of prayer. But it is not just
going through these exercises that we will be converted. In fact, a
perfunctory celebration of the rituals, and just a routine, carrying out of all
the spiritual exercises does not mean that we will be converted. That's why
conversion must be from the heart. We need to feel the severity, the gravity
of our sins. Very often, we are not converted, because we do not see the
full impact and the consequences of what we do. We tend to be short sighted. We
tend to seek immediate gratification. And we forget to realise that whatever
we do has serious implication or repercussion, not just on our loved ones,
but on society, and on the Church. And that is what Jesus, actually, He was
reminding us. Don't use all these spiritual exercises to show off and be
hypocritical in fulfilling them. It is not just a matter of looking good by
society. It is not enough simply to give because we want people to think well of
us, or even to appear prayerful. What is important, at the end of the day,
Jesus said is, are you in deep relationship with the Father? That is the
reward. When we do everything in secret, that means to say, our own motives, the
real motive cannot be based on what people say, what people think, but whether
we want to acquire the heart of God. If we have the heart of God, the heart of
compassion, the heart of giving, the heart of intimacy with Him, then of
course, we will already have a share of the reward. And this cannot take place,
my dear brothers and sisters, because conversion is not something we
can do on our own strength alone. Conversion is really, at the end of the
day, a grace of God. That is why the same homily can be preached, we can read
the same word of God, some change, some don't change. Some have heartfelt
contrition, some have no contrition at all. It is because of God's grace. So, we
do not undertake the exercises during the season of Lent, as if by doing
through all these exercises, you will be converted. We need the Holy Spirit to
open our hearts, to touch our hearts. It's only when we contemplate on the
passion of Christ, on what the Lord has done for us, how much He has suffered,
that He was one with us in temptation, in suffering, in rejection, then we can
appreciate how Jesus, the Son of God, who emptied Himself to show us the way to
fullness of life through self denial, through the passion on the cross. My
dear brothers and sisters, we have received the grace of faith in Jesus
when we were baptised, and those catechumens waiting to be baptised, but
what has happened to the graces that we have received, the graces of conversion,
the grace of faith? During this season of Lent, we are called to make use, once
again, all the blessings that He has given to us, the graces we have received, and
so make the journey back home to the Father. Do not let this season of Lent
pass in vain. Otherwise, we will miss the new life that we celebrate at Easter.
