00:00Conversion is directly linked to the response of men and women to Jesus' announcement about the arrival of the kingdom and, therefore, to faith in the message of salvation.
00:13It is not just a preparation for a condition for faith as it was in the Old Testament, even in the message of John the Baptist.
00:23It is rather the logical and joyful reaction of man to the loving and saving action of God.
00:32Thus, the New Testament conversion takes place in faith, and faith itself is already conversion as a complete obedience to God who makes himself present in Christ.
00:45Furthermore, being so closely linked to faith, conversion is presented as a dynamic process of eschatological projection that affects all human dimensions: moral, religious, personal, and collective.
01:05In other words, when we talk about conversion, we are talking about something that will affect all areas of my life, and not just the religious area, which is usually the one we refer to.
01:20A person says, "I've already converted, I go to Mass, I've already converted, now I'm going to confession more often, I've already converted," and always related to religious situations.
01:35The conversion must also affect our social life; people have to see us as new men and women; it has to affect our relationship with our spouse if we are married, with our children if we have children, with our parents if we have parents.
01:55There has to be a change, a conversion, to convert, to transform myself, and that transformation has to be visible, and that is what this text of Mark 16:16 refers to.
02:10In other words, when I say I have faith, it's because I have works, as the apostle James says in his chapter 2, faith without works is dead faith, so that is the testimony we are referring to.
02:25It is that, the true conversion, that affects all areas of my life, the economic part, how I spend money, our recreational part, where I attend, what kind of show I see, or listen to, in short, a conversion of everything.
02:46That is why we can say that conversion is, ultimately, the central concept of the stance demanded by Jesus.
02:54There is no conversion, there is no Christian life.
