I believe my mission is to help the lost, the sick of soul and those straddling the fence to comprehend this great gift of conversion. My music reflects my own conversion experience without preaching. I believe the music that has been granted to me explains so much for those willing to listen.
SEEK CONVERSION
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “conversion is a radical reorientation of life, turning away from sin and towards God. It’s a process of interior repentance, a gift of God’s grace, and a lifelong journey for Christians. This involves a change of heart, a turning away from evil, and a desire to live according to God’s will.” In Medjugorje, Conversion is the central request of the Virgin Mary. She stresses prayer, fasting, faith, peace and conversion. Conversion is a very real experience and transcends understanding. It is a gift, a transforming experience only God and His Spirit can effectuate. It can, for some, be nearly as powerful as St. Paul’s conversion experience on his way to Damascus, or it can be as incremental as St. Augustine’s leading to his full surrender with his famous words, “Our hearts will stay restless until they find rest in You.”
TAKE THE FIRST STEP
A first step toward conversion is the conviction that “God knows me better than I know myself”. When that reality is finally reached (usually through heartache, mistakes, wrong decisions, etc.), you are crying out to God for change. You take the first step to surrender yourself to Him. It is then that He can begin the healing, direction and purpose changes for your life. Here is where total patience with yourself will need to be exercised. This is a very personal and sometimes emotional commitment; a conscious decision on your part to surrender your ways of thinking to God. Your surrender may even be with tears as you begin to see yourself in the Holy Spirit’s illuminating light of conversion. You begin to see where you have been. You see all you have done. Your sins are clearly before you and you are ready to bring them to God. Here is where the Sacrament of Confession is very important (and do not let anyone tell you it isn’t). This is still all between you and God. You will begin also to see the world differently as the Holy Spirit reaches into your life. A sign that conversion is effectual is that the things of this world seem to matter less and less to you with time and the desire for God becomes more and more.
PATIENT CONVERSION
The Great Doctor is now at work on the healing of your mind, heart and soul. Again, you must be patient with yourself. The old self will rear its ugly head and you must become aware of these times also. As the Holy Spirit and conversion are very real, so God’s adversary Satan is very real. He will try his hardest to pull you back. To steal your joy and peace. But even if it is two steps forward and one back, you will begin to know how to steer your own boat always toward God – toward heaven, toward eternity with Him. It will always be a matter of choice. Here is where going to Confession regularly becomes important, even if your mind does not want to believe it. You must trust that the grace of Confession is truly a grace to behold. “Unless you become like a child you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven”. This is the effect of Confession on the soul – becoming like a trusting child; trusting in the Father to guide your life.
MAKE THE DECISION FOR GOD
Stay the course. Begin to develop a plan to quietly have time to tell God everything. God wants your best. Only in God will you find true happiness and true peace. Now it’s time to listen for His voice; the voice of instruction. The voice of counsel; the voice of direction. You will eventually come to believe and see how God wants the best for you. You are now consciously making the decision for God. Tests will come, but you will be stronger to overcome them. As you retreat from your desires for the things of the world, you experience your heart loving God more and more. You will probably develop a hunger to want to read the words of Jesus in Holy Scripture. As you read His words, more and more light will come in. It is this Holy Spirit illumination that transforms. In time He will begin to surprise you with gifts you might never have known existed.
I am humbled and tremendously moved that God would possibly be using these gifts of music to help you in your own conversion process. Stay the course, learn to steer the boat in one direction – heaven bound. I have my mission. My only desire is to be a servant in presenting the gifts being presented to me; to praise Him with all that is within me and to help the lost discover the great gift of His love in conversion.
– Father Svetozar Kraljevic, Medjugorje
“It is not difficult for me to suffer for you. I beg you be converted. I will pray for my Son to spare you the punishment. Be converted without delay. You do not know the plans of God. You will not be able to know them. You will not know what God will send, nor what He will do. I ask you only to be converted. That is what I wish. Be converted! Be ready for everything, but be converted. That is all I wish to say to you.”
August 31, 1982