I may be biased but I feel no one has managed to capture the mystery of God’s grace more aptly than the legendary G.K. Chesterton. He was blessed with irrepressible wit and an unbelievable depth of thought.
In one of the episodes of his books on Father Brown, Chesterton uses the term “the twitch upon the thread” as a metaphor for the irresistible pull of divine grace.
When we feel down and despondent, as we grapple with the mysteries of life, with all its enigmas and difficulties, we often feel our convictions questioned. Above all, we lose heart when we see family members and close friends abandoning religion, despite having even been given a strong religious upbringing.
This feeling is more pronounced in people of my generation as many of us try to fathom how life in Malta has changed so radically.
Yet the stories of conversion of people from the most unlikely backgrounds and situations continue to strike us like a blast of fresh air and dispel our despondent moods.
Conversion stories often narrate the doubt, rebellion, or searching that mark so many life journeys, as so many people struggle along, seeking ever elusive self-sufficiency and contentment in the absence of the transcendent.
For Chesterton himself, this journey was deeply personal. Raised in a nominally Christian household, he experienced a period of agnosticism before embracing Christianity and eventually converting to Catholicism. His writings are imbued with the conviction that divine truth is not something we discover entirely on our own but something that finds us when we least expect it.
He implies the gentle and personal way in which this grace works in a subtle and imperceptible manner as it respects human freedom while inviting a response. Looking back, many of us might recognise moments when unrelated events or occurrences draw us closer to God. We all have our own story.
‘The thread’ exists because we are loved, and the twitch comes as an invitation to remember that love
In a world increasingly sceptical of absolute truths, the concept of conversion seems out of date or even suspect. Yet, Chesterton’s “twitch upon the thread” suggests that, ‘no matter how far one strays’, God is always seeking out the lost sheep with relentless care.
It also reminds us that faith is not a rigid system imposed from the outside but a challenging relationship, an ongoing process that evolves and deepens.
We are all impacted by the broader human experience of longing and belonging.
Even outside explicitly religious contexts, people often speak of feeling an inexplicable attraction toward truth, beauty or meaning.
For Christians, this universal yearning is understood as a reflection of the divine image within us – a thread that ties every human heart to its creator. Chesterton’s own life and writings stand as a testament to the joy and freedom found in surrendering to this pull. His humour, humility and profound sense of wonder invite us to conversion not as a loss of self but as the discovery of one’s truest identity.
In his writings, Chesterton, reminds us that ‘the thread’ exists because we are loved, and the twitch comes as an invitation to remember that love. In this lies the heart of conversion: the journey back to a God who never stopped seeking us.