Ahmad's Free Decision

Ahmad came back to Lebanon and told me all these things.  He kept silent for a moment, and then he looked at me and said, “It’s true, I have found Christ and I know that He is the Son of God and the Lord of heaven and earth, but there is something still lacking. What is it?”

I stopped the car and we entered a small church.  I had the bible in my hands.  I read for him St. Peter’s preaching after Pentecost. Peter said to the public,

        “ ‘Therefore let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made

         him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.’

         Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they asked Peter and 

         the other apostles, ‘What are we to do, my brothers?’

         Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of

         Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the

         Holy Spirit’” (Acts 2:36-38).

So Ahmad said, “This is it. What do I need to become a Christian?”

I replied, “First Catechism, then…”

Ahmad interrupted me and said, “Catechism, Catechism.  This word has been in my heart for three weeks and I do not understand its meaning.”

I understood that the Holy Spirit was working very hard in Ahmad’s heart.

So I asked him when he would like to begin.  On the eighteenth of April, 2007, Ahmad decided to follow Christ.  On the first of February, 2008, snow covered the land of the Lamb of God Shrine.  It was half meter deep when Ahmad received the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and the Eucharist[1].  And so Ahmad became one of the sons of the Holy Church.

This was the first conversion that happened in this place chosen by the Virgin Mary.  It is a conversion that stands not on brainwashing or coercion, human wisdom or financial temptation.  It stands firmly on strong signs from the Lord and the power of the Holy Spirit. God is wonderful in his deeds!

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[1] The devil has put many obstacles so that Ahmad can't reach baptism: people, whom he doesn't know, hit him on his way to get Catechism. An explosion forbids him from wandering about. His son got sick and he was close to death so he went to see him. And when we fixed the first of February a date as the day to receive the sacrament of baptism, a snowy storm hit Lebanon and all roads were closed for more than one week. But we challenged nature and we walked to the Mount of the Cross holding with us the things that we needed for baptism and for the Holy Communion.