Are you looking for a way to get closer to Jesus? If so, you will definitely want to make a commitment to watch EWTN’s newest series, “Metanoia,” and to share it with family and friends. (Airs 6 p.m. ET, Saturdays, with an encore at 5:30 a.m. ET Tuesdays and coming soon on www.ewtnrc.com.)
The term “metanoia” may not be familiar to everyone, but Host Fr. Dave Pivonka TOR (President of Franciscan University of Steubenville, and host of “The Wild Goose” series on EWTN) tells us that metanoia is a reference to conversion, to a mind and a life changed through Jesus – and it’s not something that should be experienced only once.
When discussing his new series on the set of “Franciscan University Presents” (which airs Sundays, the first full week of the month, at 10 p.m. ET), Fr. Dave told the hosts that he once discussed metanoia/conversion with a student who he later discovered he had unintentionally insulted because she had fallen into the trap of thinking that her conversion was a once and done experience.
Franciscan University Professor Scott Hahn agreed saying that he had recently met with a group of people with whom he had walked in faith 40 years ago. He was struck by how many were talking about their faith life in the same way they had so many years ago. As the saying goes, if we are not moving ahead in our faith life, we are falling behind.
Fr. Dave kicked off this 10-part series, which was beautifully filmed in the Holy Land, with an episode last week that posed the same question to viewers that Jesus posed to his disciples: Who do you say I am? In other words, the series challenges us to go beyond a textbook answer by asking each of us to answer the question: Who is God to ME? And then: Is that who God REALLY is?
This series is unique in that it includes testimonies of people from all walks of life, as well as Fr. Dave himself, who share their own answers to this and other questions such as – How can I hope to achieve victory over satan? How do I deal with the “hard sayings” in Scripture? How do I show Jesus that I love Him? – and so many more!
One woman bared her soul in the first episode, saying she always felt she had been a good Catholic until she delivered a child born with cerebral palsy. This was the first time she faced such a big challenge. At first, she thought that, since she had always been a pretty good person, she could just ask God to cure her child and He would. In other words, she saw Jesus as a “Genie” or “Santa Claus.” But He didn’t grant her the cure she requested.
It wasn’t until later that she finally admitted to Jesus that she didn’t really know Him, that she felt like a fraud in her faith, and she humbly asked Him to help her see Him as He really is. That’s when Jesus revealed Himself to her as “Love, Mercy, my Friend, my Brother, my Love – and He doesn’t abandon us,” she said.
Father Dave himself says that, as a teenager, he prayed that his brother would be able to see how wrong he was about something. Days later, a car his brother was working on fell on his head! Although his brother was ultimately okay, Father Dave said that experience left him with an impression of God as a harsh disciplinarian. It wasn’t until eight years later that God revealed to Him that his impression was very wrong. As Fr. Dave says: “Jesus is not who we WANT [or suppose] Him to be.”
If you missed Episode 1, don’t worry. This episode, and all the episodes to follow, will soon be available on www.ewtnrc.com. But you can jump in anytime for answers to many more important questions such as – What must I do to inherit eternal life? Why does Scripture say I must die in order to live? How is it possible to have a personal relationship with Jesus? – and many others!
Father Dave prays that through this series you will discover the ultimate truth about Our Lord: “He is more than you can imagine!”