Fr. Dave Pivonka - Living Metanoia: Finding Freedom and Fulfillment in Christ

Finding Freedom and Fulfillment in Christ

Fr. Dave Pivonka, Tor

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Msgr. Michael Heintz, Ph.D.

Censor Librorum

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Kevin C. Rhoades

Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend

February 25, 2021

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Copyright 2021 by Fr. Dave Pivonka, TOR

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1. RELIGIONChristian LifeSpiritual Growth.

2. RELIGIONChristian LifeInspirational.

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P RINTED IN THE U NITED S TATES OF A MERICA

Im not very good at languages. And by that, I mean I am terrible at them. Its been a family joke since the second time I took Intro to Spanish in high school. And it didnt end in high school. I can still remember sitting next to the phone in my room as a senior in college waiting for my Spanish professor to call me to let me know I passed Spanish and would be graduating. I graduated.

So, when I say I dont know Greek, I mean, I dont know Greek. But there is one word in Greek that I fell in love with the first time I heard it. I have never forgotten it, and it has been a part of the way I lived my life every day since.

Metanoia.

I was a twenty-year-old kid and was taking a year off of college serving with National Evangelization Teams (NET) Ministries. Today they call that a gap year, but back then, we called it dropping out. One of the presenters during our training was teaching from Marks Gospel. The very first words of Jesus in this Gospel are The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel (Mk 1:15). It is significant that this is the first thing Jesus says in Marks Gospel. Jesus proclaims that the kingdom of God is at hand. This would have been music to the ears of those listening. The Jewish people had been praying for Gods reign to come, and finally the Messiah had come the people of God would be liberated.

So, the kingdom of God is at hand. What are we supposed to do?

Repent in Greek, metanoia.

In reality, the translation repent doesnt really do the word metanoia justice. It does mean repent; this is key and cant be lost. Jesus announces that Gods kingdom has finally arrived, and it is necessary that we repent. We need to recognize that we have been living in a manner which is inconsistent with the kingdom of God, and we need to change. It is and will also be essential to a life of faith.

But when we look deeper into the meaning of the word, metanoia means to change, or more specifically, to change direction. We were going one way, thinking one way, behaving one way, and we need to change, to be converted.

Conversion is key, and I think it best sums up the meaning of metanoia. We all need metanoia, and there are many elements to this: repentance, change, and transformation are all integral. The other aspect that I totally appreciate is that metanoia is not a singular event. We dont really do metanoia; rather, we live metanoia. It is a way of approaching the kingdom of God, a way of following Jesus and walking toward salvation. We are not only converted once but are called to a life of conversion.

Metanoia has been my constant companion as I strive to be more like Jesus each and every day. This means continually striving to be holy, understanding this is Jesus constant invitation. Metanoia also played a significant role in helping me live the call the Lord had on my life.

When I finished my college career at Franciscan University, which is sponsored by the Franciscan Friars of the Third Order Regular (TOR), I was fairly certain that God was calling me to be a religious priest. When I visited these friars, I learned that their primary charism was metanoia. This was one of many signs for me that this community may be my home. In my Franciscan community, we understand that metanoia is a daily, lifelong journey. Some days we do better than others, and we strive to be more faithful tomorrow than we were today. A joy of my life has been striving to live metanoia with a group of brothers who long to conform their lives to Jesus. We dont all approach this exactly the same way, and we dont do it perfectly, but we keep trying.

This is what metanoia is: continually striving for conversion so that we are more and more like Christ. This is what it means to be a follower, a disciple of Jesus.

Ive been praying a great deal lately about the needs of the Church. We find ourselves in the midst of tremendous trials, and it seems every few weeks there is some headline or social media post about some scandalous thing that has happened. Sometimes its about what a bishop or priest did or what some people believe he should have done. We hear stories of how many Catholics dont believe or understand basic tenets of the Faith. We argue with one another about a myriad of issues and only further divide Christs body. I find myself getting frustrated but also realizing that there was never a perfect time in the Church. There is no such thing as a perfect time that we can go back to, if we could go back.

I think Jesus is asking something more of us, not merely that we go back to something. There is something we need today. And as I pray and watch all thats going on around us, I am convinced that what the Church needs today is saints. We need men and women who are willing to totally give their lives to Jesus, to beg the Holy Spirit to transform their lives, and to become the saints they have been created to be.

In the midst of the difficulties in the Church in the last many years, I believe at the heart of the scandal is that men and women have failed to be disciples by not responding to the call to be holy, to be saints.