37. From evangelization, completed with the help of God, come the faith and initial conversion that cause a person to feel called away from sin and drawn into the mystery of God’s love. The whole period of the precatchumenate is set aside for this evangelization, so that the genuine will to follow Christ and seek baptism may mature.
Commentary:
Notice the stress placed on the agency of God from the outset. God assists both the newcomer and the parish leadership in completing evangelization. What does a “complete” evangelization look like? A turning around of one’s life through faith and through the progression from sin to divine love.
Notice also that we do not seek a completion in the individual’s spiritual make-up. The precatechumenate ends when the newcomers have matured to a certain degree. Complete maturity awaits the far future of the Christian pilgrimage.
