Sudden Conversions: Why We Pray for Souls Who Seem Lost

Spiritual writers like St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Ávila, and modern directors often say: There are no truly sudden conversions. What looks like a lightning strike is the moment when long-accumulated graces finally overcome the last resistance, and the soul consents fully.

This is why there is profound hope for all, even the souls who seem lost.

The great spiritual masters—St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Ávila, Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, and others—are indeed unanimous: what appears as a sudden, lightning-strike conversion is never truly “out of nowhere.”

It is the visible culmination of a long, hidden preparation by grace. God has been working in the soul—often for years, sometimes for decades—through small graces the soul barely noticed, trials that seemed meaningless at the time, prayers of others (known or unknown), fleeting moments of docility or regret.

Even the soul’s own sins and miseries, which God used to hollow out space for Himself—All of these are secret accumulations of grace, piling up like snow on a branch until the final flake makes it bend and break open.

St. John of the Cross: “God does not give these great favors suddenly … He prepares the soul little by little.”

St. Teresa of Ávila: “His Majesty never gives great favors without first preparing the soul with many little ones.”

Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange (on sudden conversions like St. Paul): “What seems sudden is the final moment when the soul, after long preparation, consents fully to grace that has been accumulating.”

So there is real hope for all. No soul is ever “too far” or “too late.” God is always accumulating those hidden graces, waiting for the moment the soul—perhaps in one desperate, tiny “yes”—finally lets the weight of mercy break it open. Some souls require a lifetime of little flakes of grace, falling daily from heaven, and appear to move steadily toward God. Others receive similar graces and seem not to move at all until one day the accumulated graces burst forth like an avalanche. The outward expression of grace will appear radically different to the one who makes steady progress and the one whose progress is swift and sudden. But the mercy is the same.

So with regard to the souls you've been praying for: Even if you see no results, keep praying. One day, the floodgates of mercy will open. Have faith. Have hope. Continue, therefore, in charity.

God will do the rest. He is the great tactician of love. We are his soldiers on the field of battle.