 |
| The Ammas and Abbas of the Desert Knew how to Seek |
It's as though we live our lives with our backs to God. We are concerned with the tangible things that please us. But then comes a point when we realize just how shallow and even empty our lives have become. We begin to turn and look for something more lasting and fulfilling. In this sense, we are undergoing metanoia. We are turning our attention and our hearts around, we are looking for something more, something eternal. This is the sense of conversion in desert literature.
The concept of metanoia most likely comes from the Epistle to the Corinthians: At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. (1 Cor. 13:12) We turn because there is someone to see, someone that is waiting for us.
I like that perspective. Too often we are shown the great penitents who had a 'conversion' from a wicked life to a saintly one. Yes this does happen and we all must face our own sin and past life, yet most of us begin a process that lasts as long as we draw breath. It is both past, present and future tense, it is like a participle an ongoing activity. I heard someone use a verse to explain this 'be filled with the spirit' they recommended was better translated as 'be being filled' in otherwords not a single event but an ongoing openness to the spirits' work. Conversion is the same way, you might say ever changing, ever developing, ever yielding and learning.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your insightful comment. Yes, in monastic literature, conversion was not a one time thing, but something you did every day. If that act is simply a constant beating of the breast and saying, "Oh what a sinner am I?" you will get depressed very quickly. But if you realize that when we turn toward God, it is a gradual thing, we will better understand why it is done every day. We turn, but then we turn a little more, and a little more. We don't see God face to face until we've turned all the way.
ReplyDelete