Convert or Die!
A demand like this will definitely send the shivers down our spine and the first thought may be that we are in medieval Arabia and being confronted by Mohamad, the founder of Islam.
Believe it or not but this actually came from the mouth of Pope Benedict XVI, a few days ago. Since it’s the Pope’s words, we don’t suffer the same level of fear as if it was Osama Bin Laden who said it. Instead we become curious as to what our Holy Father really means.
The Holy Father said this before the Angelus on March 11. He was not refering to physical death for not converting, but spiritual death if we don’t repent for our sins and reconcile with God. These were the words of Jesus when he addressed the crowd, when a tower that was being built collapsed and killed several people (Luke 13:4).
Jesus’ and Pope Benedict’s exhortation to convert is entirely voluntary and no compulsion is hinted at all. We bring death to ourselves if we don’t convert, it won’t come at the edge of someone else’s sword.We fall prey to our own folly.
This is appropriate Lenten advise.
