A familiar tale.
Another convert, this one far more illustrious than your Tatler, but his tale of conversion as told in this marvelous account, bears similarity to mine. In fact, all the conversion stories I’ve read, from Newman’s on down, have a common theme. Whether the convert-to-be was deeply religious, but of a different faith, or an irreligious gadabout like Gary Cooper or worse, at some point, they sensed an emptiness in their lives that seemed unfillable until they became acquainted with the teachings and history of the Holy Catholic Church.
That emptiness, as was revealed to Cooper and all other converts, can only be filled by the Holy Ghost in the person of Jesus Christ, and He is accessible fully only through the Catholic Church. Once the emptiness is filled, one’s life is forever changed. From there on, no matter how difficult life seemed before, it becomes somehow bearable. As Cooper said with elegant simplicity, and he speaks for me as well, it’s “the best thing I ever did.”
The quote below from Newman puts it nicely.
God knows what is my greatest happiness, but I do not. There is no rule about what is happy and good; what suits one would not suit another. And the ways by which perfection is reached vary very much; the medicines necessary for our souls are very different from each other. Thus God leads us by strange ways; we know He wills our happiness, but we neither know what our happiness is, nor the way. We are blind; left to ourselves we should take the wrong way; we must leave it to Him.
St John Henry Newman: Everyday Meditations.
Thanks to GWR.
The Taos Tatler 