Repent and convert

“Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise.” Revelation 3:14-22

“…unless you repent, you too will all perish.” Luke 13:1-5

 Punishments in families and in society such as time-outs and arrests can change bad behavior to good behavior to keep the moral order.

 Similarly, God chastises, or punishes, us who sin and serve other gods or idols, which are things that are more important to us than God, for example: ourselves, others, activities, beliefs, things, sins, etc. 1st Commandment: “I am the LORD thy God,…You shall not have strange gods before me…” (Exodus 20:2-3). 

If we neglect, overlook or forget God, evil fills the void. God cannot cause evil but permits evil to bring good, which is repentance and conversion.

In God’s salvation plan, the infinite value of the Savior’s obedient, sacrificial suffering and death by crucifixion paid our sin debt to God and merited favor with Him who thereby extends His grace to us -St. Thomas Aquinas. Thus evil was permitted to bring good. We are saved when we cooperate with God’s grace.

Grace pours out from the Sacraments that Jesus instituted in His Church. Baptism, Reconciliation, Holy Eucharist, etc. give us sanctification, strength and enlightenment helping us to avoid sin, to grow in holiness and to “…work out [our] salvation…” (Philippians 2:1-[12]-18). Jesus founded the Roman Catholic Church about 2000 years ago to help us get to heaven, “…and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:17-19).

If we claim to love God, then we obey all that is revealed by Him. Some say they are free to interpret the Bible ‘as the spirit leads them,’ which has unfortunately unfurled thousands of differing denominations from ill-advised beliefs and interpretations divorced from the fullness of truth. Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to His Church to guide us “to all truth” (John 16:1-[13]-15).

Does anyone know better than Jesus regarding the Church He established for salvation? Your ways are not My ways, says the Lord, see Isaiah 55:8-9. To deny a teaching of Christ is to be denied by Christ, see Mark 8:34-38; Matthew 10:33; 2 Timothy 2:8-15. Dogmas and doctrines of faith and morals of Jesus and His one Church are unchangeable because God, who is Truth, is unchangeable. 

We have been warned by the Blessed Virgin Mary (Lourdes, France 1858; Fatima, Portugal 1917; etc.) of chastisements if the world does not repent, convert, obey God and pray the Rosary (meditation on the incarnation, nativity, life, passion, crucifixion, resurrection of Christ, etc.; only vain, repetitious prayer is wrong, see Psalm 136; Mark 14:35-39; Revelation 4:8).

The most important thing to fear is sin. We absolutely need to avoid sins that cry-out to heaven for vengeance such as murder of the innocents (abortion) and immoral sexuality, see 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Leviticus 18-[20:13]-20:27; Romans 1:18-32.

Is COVID-19 our suffering and punishment that motivates us to repentance and conversion? Do we need more chastisements to keep God’s kingdom in righteous order? 

Fortunately, these sufferings are nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us, see Romans 8:1-[18]-39, if only we repent and convert. 

+Lord, guide me to Your way, truth, and life.+