Drama, heart and grace: Three Catholics share their stories of conversion

By Joe Ruff The Catholic Spirit

They are of different ages, backgrounds and experiences, but three Catholics agreed to share, in-depth, an important part of their lives they hold in common. Each were at low points of confusion, sorrow and isolation when God reached into their hearts and let them know they were loved.

One was vacuuming her living room. Another was surrounded by loving friends who stood and prayed over her as she unexpectedly and gratefully wept for hours while in adoration of the Eucharist in a chapel. The third was into street drugs and partying and was tired of where he found himself. His decision to find another way was greeted by the strength and wonder of God’s affirmation, flooding him as he drove away from a party at 18 years old. More than 50 years later, he vividly remembers that night.

The associate director of human formation at The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, Paul Ruff, said he recognizes in conversion experiences the universal truth of God’s love for every person — and physical, emotional and spiritual ways the Lord tries to reach people, to knock on the door of their lives and enter.

For its April 6 edition, during Holy Week and Easter, The Catholic Spirit will publish these experiences in a package titled “Conversion: Embraced by love.”

The package will dive more deeply into

Ruff’s understanding of conversion, and it will include a reflection from Father Rolf Tollefson, pastor of St. Hubert in Chanhassen.

With a grant from Illinois-based 1891 Financial Life, formerly the National Catholic Society of Foresters, The Catholic Spirit produced podcasts allowing readers to listen to the conversion stories, told by those who experienced them, which will be posted April 2, Palm Sunday, at TheCaTholiCSpiriT Com/podCaSTS