André Frossard, the atheist journalist who found God in 2 minutes.
A son of one of the founders of the French Communist Party. Raised without faith.
Committed atheist.
Until one day in 1969, that's when everything changed -a 🧵✝️
A son of one of the founders of the French Communist Party. Raised without faith.
Committed atheist.
Until one day in 1969, that's when everything changed -a 🧵✝️
He was walking the streets of Paris with a friend.
His friend stopped and said: “I need to go inside here for a moment.”
It was a small Catholic chapel.
Frossard wasn’t interested, but he was curious.
He stepped inside.
His friend stopped and said: “I need to go inside here for a moment.”
It was a small Catholic chapel.
Frossard wasn’t interested, but he was curious.
He stepped inside.
The chapel was silent, dimly lit.
At the center: the Blessed Sacrament, the Eucharist, exposed on the altar.
Frossard didn’t know what it was.
To him, it was just a strange golden vessel.
At the center: the Blessed Sacrament, the Eucharist, exposed on the altar.
Frossard didn’t know what it was.
To him, it was just a strange golden vessel.
Then, in an instant, something happened.
A sudden overwhelming light in his soul.
A certainty beyond reason.
Entering the chapel, where the Blessed Sacrament was being exposed, he mysteriously heard the words “spiritual life” and suddenly had an overwhelming sense that God existed, that He was what Christians called “our Father”, that he was of an unparalleled gentleness, but a gentleness so active and strong that it was capable of piercing the hardest rock and even the hardest human heart.
In those two minutes, the God he had denied his whole life stood before him, present in the Eucharist, whispering to him.
A sudden overwhelming light in his soul.
A certainty beyond reason.
Entering the chapel, where the Blessed Sacrament was being exposed, he mysteriously heard the words “spiritual life” and suddenly had an overwhelming sense that God existed, that He was what Christians called “our Father”, that he was of an unparalleled gentleness, but a gentleness so active and strong that it was capable of piercing the hardest rock and even the hardest human heart.
In those two minutes, the God he had denied his whole life stood before him, present in the Eucharist, whispering to him.
He would later say: “I was an atheist. And then, in two minutes, I was a Christian. I had met Him.”
The encounter was so intense that all his old convictions collapsed like dust.
God’s eruption in his life was accompanied by a deep joy, like the joy of a person rescued from a shipwreck. He experienced what he called “a silent and gentle explosion of light” and had a sense of belonging to a new family: the Church.
He was conscious of receiving a “light of truth, a light that really instructs, that informs as it illuminates…. And the curious thing is that this wordless instruction is exactly the same as that of the Church” (Be Not Afraid!, The Bodley Head, 1984, p. 49).
The encounter was so intense that all his old convictions collapsed like dust.
God’s eruption in his life was accompanied by a deep joy, like the joy of a person rescued from a shipwreck. He experienced what he called “a silent and gentle explosion of light” and had a sense of belonging to a new family: the Church.
He was conscious of receiving a “light of truth, a light that really instructs, that informs as it illuminates…. And the curious thing is that this wordless instruction is exactly the same as that of the Church” (Be Not Afraid!, The Bodley Head, 1984, p. 49).
He left the chapel in shock.
Not because he had “changed ideas” but because he had met a Person.
Jesus Christ. Alive. Real.
Frossard’s conversion had a permanent impact on him and led to his baptism soon afterwards. His mother was impressed by the effect of her son’s conversion on his behaviour – the rebellious youth became a much gentler and more joyful person.
Like his sister, she was to follow him afterwards into the Catholic Church.
Not because he had “changed ideas” but because he had met a Person.
Jesus Christ. Alive. Real.
Frossard’s conversion had a permanent impact on him and led to his baptism soon afterwards. His mother was impressed by the effect of her son’s conversion on his behaviour – the rebellious youth became a much gentler and more joyful person.
Like his sister, she was to follow him afterwards into the Catholic Church.
Frossard spent the rest of his life telling his story.
The book he wrote about it
became a spiritual classic: “God Exists, I Met Him.”
The book he wrote about it
became a spiritual classic: “God Exists, I Met Him.”
From communist atheism to Catholic faith, in 2 minutes.
André Frossard’s life is a reminder: God doesn’t need much time to change a soul.
Sometimes just a moment in His Presence is enough.
André Frossard’s life is a reminder: God doesn’t need much time to change a soul.
Sometimes just a moment in His Presence is enough.
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