Deep Conversion / Deep Prayer

by Thomas Dubay, SM

Ignatius, 2006

125 pages, $11.95

To order: (800) 651-1531

Ignatius.com
 

Father Thomas Dubay is an expert guide to the spiritual life. From his writings to his retreats to his programs on EWTN, the popular Marist priest has opened up the riches of a rewarding prayer life to countless Catholics.

In this, his latest book, he again points the way to profound union with God. This time the emphasis is on the impact that union will have on our daily living. Only serious prayer, he insists, will “get us out of the pervasive rut of moral mediocrity.”

Father Dubay starts with a consideration of Jesus’ teachings. The first recorded words out of Our Lord’s mouth, he notes, are blunt and challenging: “Be converted, and accept the Gospel” (Mark 1:15).

“What we directly envision,” writes Father Dubay, “are moral and spiritual developments for the better: giving up mortal and venial sins, loving and serving God and our neighbors more and more perfectly, growing in a deepening prayer intimacy with the indwelling Trinity.”

Father Dubay’s style is straightforward and practical. He points out that most of our troubles, conflicts and sins — that is, the things that make us miserable — are a result of the fundamental self-centeredness that comes with original sin.

His realism about our present situation never prevents him from seeing clearly where we need to be. Each one of us, he insists, is called to sanctity. The Gospels, the Church and the witness of the great masters of the spiritual life are all luminously clear on this point.

“Yes, the heights of holiness are for you and me, period,” he writes. “No matter what our past may have been, no matter how far we may be from the summit right now, no matter what state in life or career we are in, no matter what temperament or inclinations we have, no matter what our job may be, we are called to be saints.”

Father Dubay devotes a chapter to itemizing the reasons we should work to attain this deep conversion. He suggests that we memorize the reasons so we can call them to mind when our determination lags.

Anyone involved in educational apostolates, for example, will surely be unsettled by reason No. 8 : “There are a few people objective and honest enough to accept solid evidence for some moral and religious idea aside from who is speaking (Augustine, Newman and Chesterton come to mind), but unfortunately in matters of one’s way of life, most go by their preferences, not by objective reasons. This is sad but true. If we are going to bring people closer to God in work and life, our own deepening conversion is indispensable.”

Another chapter presents a “surefire” seven-point program for a spiritual life that bears fruit in daily living. It’s both insightful and actionable.

For me, the book bogged down only during a lengthy excursus on the importance of being brief in the confessional. Given the point at hand, the lapse into verbosity struck me as odd and out of place.

This proved a mere stumble on an otherwise steady run. By the time I got to book’s end, I found myself wanting more. Father Dubay leaves no doubt that deepening conversion is something that each of us must pursue. But a longer book is not what we need to achieve it. Reading about it is the easy part.

What’s harder is to put the book down and then go to God in prayer, in personal examination of conscience, and in living out the virtues. Only in this way will we become, through God’s grace, deeply converted: the saints we are all called to be.

Barry Michaels writes from

Syracuse, New York.