Live 4 The LORD

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READ

And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped him;  (Mark 5:6, RSV2CE)

REFLECTION

The man saw Jesus from afar and worshipped him. 

How did the man know to worship Jesus?

And why would he worship Jesus when he was full of demons?

Are the demons only afraid of Jesus in the flesh because they don’t seem to have a problem being in holy places even synagogues. 

They even seem to try and interact with Jesus. 

How can a man be filled with demons and want to worship and be in synagogues and want to interact with Jesus?

REFLECTION

This sounds exactly like humanity. Most people know God and his authority but will not accept it to rule their life. 

Only choosing conversion and love are what make a human saved. Not just admitting authority. Even the demons know this. This also sounds like other religions (Muslim, Reformed, etc)

MAGISTERIUM 

Conversion is a real turning of the whole person back to God, an interior return of the heart to God (love and repentance) that then shows itself as discipleship (a life oriented toward God’s will). Love, turning from sin, service & obedience as a disciple, surrendered to God’s reign. 

the Church describes conversion as grace-driven:

conversion is “the movement of a ‘contrite heart,’ drawn and moved by grace to respond to the merciful love of God who loved us first.” 

So if someone “believes” while continuing to live in rebellion—without sorrow, without real turning, without a purposeful change—Catholic doctrine would say that what’s present is not the conversion the Gospel calls for.

many baptized people may be lukewarm, resist grace, or delay conversion—but that is different from equating them with demons.

Catholic doctrine states that God’s salvific will is universal in this sense: He distributes sufficient grace to each and every person, whether already justified, in sin, Christian, or non-Christian

classic distinction:

• merely sufficient grace (grace that is real, but in principle can be resisted)

• efficacious grace (grace that leads to the good act that God desires, with free will cooperating) 

it is possible that a person may receive help from God and yet not freely cooperate in a way that leads to conversion and perseverance

Bottom line

• Yes, it’s possible that a person does not ultimately reach conversion/perseverance, because grace is resisted and not all received helps become efficacious through free cooperation. 4

• No, Catholic teaching does not usually mean that God leaves adults without any grace; it rather says God provides sufficient grace to each person, while the outcome depends on how the person responds. 5

• And yes, God remains fully free and merciful, but His will is never “unjust,” because mercy and justice necessarily appear in His works. 

So god gives efficient to some and sufficient to others. 

Yes—in classic Catholic theology, that is the usual way it’s explained, with an important nuance.

What the Church/teachers distinguish

Catholic discussions distinguish between:

• Sufficient grace: God truly gives the grace that makes the good act possible (“posse”), but it can be freely resisted and therefore may not actually produce conversion/perseverance. 1

• Efficacious grace: God gives grace that doesresult in the salutary free act, so the grace bears fruit. 1

One way the tradition frames the point is: if the will refuses consent, even strong grace remains merely sufficient and does not become efficacious in that person

God makes a sufficing appeal to all, while not being bound to make that appeal efficacious in every case—because refusal depends on the obstinacy of the sinner’s will (i.e., not a lack of power). 

So it’s more like:

• Everyone receives sufficient help (real ability to respond), 

• Efficacious grace/fruit occurs when the person cooperates (the good act actually happens).

MAGISTERIUM 

demons are fallen angels whose rebellion is definitive; they do not choose conversion or love of God. They acknowledge Jesus’ authority without actually becoming good.

The bowing is best understood as an immediate recognition of Christ’s power rather than the man (or the demon) turning to God with saving faith.

The demoniac’s behavior mixes fear with audacity: he runs and worships, but then cries out in terror and begs not to be tormented. 

So the bowing is not evidence of true spiritual conversion; it is a sign that Christ’s presence is spiritually unbearable to them.

Humans, refusal is often not yet definitive; for demons it is.

Satan and the other demons are fallen angels who “freely refused to serve God and his plan” and whose choice “is definitive.”

demons can acknowledge Christ’s authority, but they do not (and cannot) choose love and repentance—because their rebellion is fixed forever.

resembles knowledge without conversion

humans, too, may recognize God’s authority (even strongly) while refusing to let it rule life. Many recognize authority but refuse the rule of God. 

• Demons: definitive refusal; no conversion from their side. 

• Humans: called to conversion; refusal may be real, but it is not “locked in” the way demons’ is. Humans are still under the possibility of repentance and conversion aided by God’s grace. 

Correct belief without obedience/love (or without grace that transforms) is not sufficient. So the principle “acknowledging God isn’t salvation by itself”

the conversion necessary for salvation is not simply “agreeing that God is authoritative.” It is a real turning of the whole person back to God—specifically, repentance of sin and a return of the heart to God—made possible by grace.

Repentance (interior conversion)

The Catechism defines conversion/repentance as follows:

“The movement of return to God, called conversion and repentance, entails sorrow for and abhorrence of sins committed, and the firm purpose of sinning no more in the future.” 1

And it adds that conversion:

• touches past and future, 1

• is “nourished by hope in God's mercy.” 1

Interior reorientation “with all our heart”

Conversion of heart means:

• “a return, a conversion to God with all our heart,”

• “an end of sin,”

• “a turning away from evil,” and

• “the desire and resolution to change one’s life, with hope in God’s mercy and trust in the help of his grace.” 2

It is faith in the Gospel—renouncing evil

For the “first and fundamental conversion,” the Catechism says salvation comes “by faith in the Gospel and by Baptism,” where one “renounces evil and gains salvation,” meaning:

• “the forgiveness of all sins and the gift of new life.” 3

So conversion for salvation is inseparable from repentance + faith in the Gospel (not bare assent).

Love, turning from sin, service/obedience as a disciple, surrender to God’s reign. 

conversion also includes accepting Christ’s saving sovereignty—i.e., becoming his disciple. 

So “love God and turn from sin” is not imagined as separate from a move toward God’s rule; the turning away from sin is already a refusal to let sin rule, which implies at least an honest intention to live according to God’s plan. 

Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father…” 5

So if someone truly “loves God” and truly repents, they will not be content to keep living in refusal of God’s will; they will want—often imperfectly, but really—to obey.