A lectio divina theme: change of mind (metanoia), transformation; pt 1
We shall not cease from exploration;
And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started;
And know the place for the first time.
—TS Eliot , from ‘little gidding’ poem, in The four quartets.
It was after John’s arrest that Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, saying, “The time has come at last—the kingdom of God has arrived. You must change your hearts and minds (metanoia) and believe the good news.” Mark 1:14-15
…The first thing Jesus said when he started preaching was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). The word usually translated as “repent” is the Greek word metanoia,which is surely best translated as “turn around your mind” or “change your thinking.” Most of us won’t move toward any new way of thinking or actual change until we’re forced to do so, which usually means some form of suffering or disturbance that upsets our habitual path.
—Fr. Richard Rohr
“No one has ever spoken like this man”, said the roman centurion, and his power to captivate, despite the caricatures that some have tried to paint throughout the centuries, has come down to us intact, continuing to inspire the maddest and the wisest of our fellow beings. His words remain to be discovered now and forever, for the Gospel (good news) will be understood only by those who incarnate and live it. The Greek term “metanoia” invites us constantly to go beyond the mental, in other words, beyond the known. Although in general the term is wrongly translated as “conversion” or “repentance”, it is rather an invitation to go beyond human intelligence that is closed upon itself. In its place we would have to write “metamorphosis” or “transformation” to understand its message better. --Jean-Yves Leloup
The first moment of conversion or metanoia is the hidden gift that can, as with Paul, knock us to the ground or as with Augustine, move us to tears by the song of children and a word of scripture. Or as is often the case, this call of God is like a gradual, subtle stirring that grows within us, perhaps unnoticed, like a small flower unfolding in an enclosed garden. God plants the seed. It is he that makes it grow, but he does so only with our cooperation. We must help to bring about this awakening within us. — James Finley
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed (metamorphosed) by the renewing of your mind (noos) . –— (transformed) Paul, letter to romans 12:2
We would rather be ruined than changed, / We would rather die in our dread / Than climb the cross of the moment / And let our illusions die. —from ‘the age of anxiety’, 1947; english poet W. H. Auden (1907-1973)
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