The first reading from Ezekiel, and the Gospel talk about conversion.  It is very clear in Ezekiel that if the righteous man turns to wickedness, he will be condemned, whereas, if the wicked man turns to righteousness, he will be saved.  Jesus uses a parable to make a similar point about the two sons.  It’s the one who does the will of the Father who will be saved, the one who has the change of mind or change of heart, or that conversion that is so important. 
 
Conversion is a life-long process for the Christian.  Many Christians, I think, believe that once you are baptized, or once you accept the Lord Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, then you are saved but we don’t believe it works that way.  There’s some scripture that indicates that it doesn’t work that way either.  Personally, I am always very much aware that I could mess up my own salvation. I have to be careful.  I often say there’s only one person in the world I am afraid of, and that’s me.  Because I am the only one that can destroy my soul, no one else has that power over me. 
 
We are aware of some great conversions and some little conversions. Most of us know the story of the great Saint Augustine, the 4th Century father of the church.  Augustine was a brilliant man, but a sinful one.  He was leading a life that was not worthy.  His mother, Monica, was a devout Catholic, and she prayed for him every day.  She prayed for him and her husband, Patricio. She constantly prayed for their conversion.  Augustine led a life that was not worthy. He lived with a woman for a period of time that was not his wife. He indicated that he didn’t want to marry her because she was beneath his class.

Augustine was a seeker of wisdom and the truth.  He thought he had found it in a religion or a philosophy known as Manichaeism.  Manichaeism was a Greek-based philosophy that taught that there was spirit and there was matter, and that spirit is good and matter is bad.  Of course, we don’t believe that at all.  Proof being that Jesus took on flesh, took on matter, to save us.  Augustine felt that Christianity was a foolish religion.  He wrote, “How could anyone believe that God could become man, and then die?  How could God die?”  Therefore, he found no interest in his mother’s faith. 

One of Augustine's life-long dreams was to meet the leader of the Manichaeism movement, a man named Faustus.  He did finally meet him and was deeply disappointed and disillusioned.  He wrote that Faustus was a fool.  It was probably about this time that Augustine recorded in his Confessions, that he was depressed, that all had been lost, and he wrote, “Why not put an end to my life?”  He heard a voice, and the voice said, “Take and read.”  There, at his side, was a Bible. No doubt, Monica had slipped it close to him (as mothers are wont to do).  He picked up the Bible and he opened it up, and he looked at the paragraph that was in front of him, from the 1st chapter of Romans, and he read, “Throw off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light.  Let us conduct ourselves properly, as in the day.  Not in orgies and drunkenness, not in rivalry and jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provisions for the flesh.”  Then he writes in his Confessions, “My heart was suddenly flooded with the light that erased all my doubts, and my soul was filled with a deep peace.”  Shortly after that, he began the Catechumenate, RCIA, and he was baptized.  It wasn’t long before he was ordained a priest, and then the Bishop of Hippo.  His career moved a little quicker than mine did, though we had a similar early start.
 
A more recent story of conversion involves Thomas Merton, who died in 1968 at the age of 53.  Merton, many of you are familiar with, was born in France.  Both of his parents were artists.  He moved to the United States, to England, to France, to Spain, to Italy; he just kept moving.  He lost his mother when he was a child and his father when he was a teenager.  Nevertheless, he had wealth, and he had talent.  He had come to Cambridge University. He never thought about God.  As he achieved his life’s goals, as he achieved success in the academic environment, he became increasingly disillusioned and disappointed.  Finally, he writes in his diary while traveling in Italy, “This whole life passed in a flash.  I was overwhelmed with a sudden and profound insight into the misery and corruption of my own soul.  I was filled with horror and what I saw, my soul desired escape.”  It just so happened, he was standing near a church, and he went in and visited the church for the first time. Several years later, be became a Trappist Monk in Kentucky.  He wrote over 70 books concerning spiritual matters.
 
Those are two great stories, perhaps, of conversion.  However, you have your own story too. I think most of you do.  Most people undergo some major conversions and many minor conversions in their Christian life.  I hope, if you have some years on your bones, that you can look back and see times when you were converted closer to God.  There’s usually some sequence to this.  First is a discontent with something about your current life.  It often happens in the late 20’s, 30’s or 40’s.  It often happens when people have been successful.  They said, “If I could only achieve this goal, or that goal, I’ll be happy.”  They achieve it, and they are not happy.  Suddenly, they realize, they are nowhere.  There’s a feeling of discontent and emptiness.  There’s often, also, a trigger event.  It’s often the death of a loved one, someone who is close to you, that triggers your own awareness of the state of your own soul. 

I remember, about six years ago, we had a young man in my parish that was in trouble all the time.  He actually wasn’t in the parish – his family was, but we never saw Sedro.  Finally, he had a conversion.  I’m not sure how it happened, but he began to go to church, cleaned himself up, he stopped using drugs, he disassociated himself from gang members, and he wanted to become a barber.  Long story short, he was killed one night. A former gang member knifed him to death. Some vendetta was enforced.  I’ll never forget the funeral for Sedro.  The church was absolutely filled, mostly with young people, many young men. I heard more confessions in those few days than I did in many weeks before – confessions of great, great sin from young, young men, who were truly sorry and had been moved by this death.  Their conversion triggered by the loss of someone they loved.
 
A discontent with life, some trigger event, and finally the decision to do something about it.  If you don not make that decision, a decision to move closer to God, it is all a waste.  Life is a series of these conversions – two steps forward, and one back. Christians should always be aware that they are never there.  I am sure that many of you have been asked the question by a well-meaning friend, “Are you saved?  Have you been saved?”  I used to give a very theological and philosophical answer for that.  Now I say, “Well, God’s trying and sometimes I cooperate.”  That’s the way it works.  We must never be presumptuous of our salvation. 

In 2nd Peter it is written, “Be solicitous to make your call and election permanent, brothers.  Surely those who do so will not be lost.  On the contrary, your entry into the everlasting Kingdom of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is assured.”  Be solicitous.  Solicitous means full of concern and desire, eager, meticulously careful, about your eternal life.  We need God’s grace constantly, on an ongoing basis.

I would ask you today, on this beautiful Sunday in September, are you content with where you are, spiritually, this day?  Are you content?  Or do you want to be closer to the Lord, more Christ-like, more patient, more loving and less anxious?  I hope no one answered, “Yes, I’m content.”  Maybe, this gospel, this story, can be a trigger for us to take the next step towards God today, and tomorrow, and the next day, until the last day.  That last day will come, as sure as the sun came up today.  Until then, I’d like to say this prayer of John Henry Cardinal Newman.

May the Lord strengthen us all the day long
Till the shade lengthens and the evening comes
And the busy world is hushed and the fever of life is over
And our work is done.
Then, in His mercy, may He give us safe lodging,
A holy rest, and peace at last.