Conversion means a willingness to see the truth of things and conform one’s life to it. We know of St. Paul’s dramatic conversion story from the Acts of the Apostles. There are three other conversion stories I want to mention in more detail today.
ALEXIS CARREL
In 1902, Dr. Alexis Carrel, an agnostic, took a train carrying the sick from Lyons to Lourdes. Carrel gave twenty-three-year-old Marie Bailly, dying of tubercular peritonitis, morphine injections so she would not die before arriving.
There her hugely swollen abdomen was washed three times with water from the baths at Lourdes and she began a spectacular recovery.
Two days later, she boarded the train unassisted back to Lyons. Her relatives could not believe that it was Marie Bailly. There was no medical explanation for the change. Dr. Carrel had witnessed a miracle!
By 1942, Carrel had expressed his faith in the Catholic Church. He had experienced a miracle, but it took years for him to profess a belief in God.
From Carrel’s example, we should learn to be patient and persistent in praying for the conversion of relatives and other loved ones.
NORMA MCCORVEY – (Jane Doe of Roe v Wade)
Since her conversion she has dedicated herself to pro-life work, starting her own ministry, "Roe No More," in 1997, and continues to speak out against abortion and for life. In 1998, she became a Catholic convert and has worked to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Norma McCorvey teaches us that we need not be defined by our past. Sometimes the lessons we learn from our past prepare us to minister to others in the future.
TAKASHI NAGAI
He decided to live out Christian beliefs like a scientific experiment by boarding with a Japanese Catholic family. He was baptized in June of 1934, even at the cost of alienating his father who was a Shinto.
On August 9, 1945, Dr. Nagai was in the radiology department of a hospital in Nagasaki when the atomic bomb went off. By September 8, Dr. Nagai showed severe signs of radiation sickness, and prepared for death. After praying to Father Maximillian Kolbe, whom he had met in Japan before his death, he was miraculously healed within a month.
There is no limit to the power of God’s grace to change us and to draw us into the Mystery of His love and life.
- Father Willy's inspirational homily was recorded live this morning during Mass at the Father Peyton Center. Please view the video on our Facebook page. (You don't need a Facebook account to view.)
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