Our Lord Jesus Christ began His earthly mission with the words: Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! and these very same words had previously been proclaimed by His Forerunner and Baptist John (cf. Matt. 3:2; 4:17). This means that repentance is of particular importance for all of us, without exception, and that we must understand it properly.
Unfortunately, most Christians today understand the word “repentance” in a superficial way, and a considerable number even believe that they have no need of repentance at all. Repentance is not merely a matter of feeling sorry for having committed a sin—that is only the beginning of the penitential process, and although it is undoubtedly important and necessary, it is nowhere near sufficient. True repentance is precisely what the original word signifies—a change of mind—meaning the acquisition of an entirely new way of thinking and acting. In other words, repentance is a spiritual turning point. It is never too late for this fundamental transformation of life so long as we are alive, though it is certainly advisable to begin it as early as possible, for none of us knows when we shall pass into eternity. I shall judge you in whatever state I find you—these are sobering words that should always be kept in mind.
Let us illustrate this turning point with a simple example, one well suited to our own time, in which certain vices have multiplied on a massive scale. When a man dominated by the passion of gambling at some point becomes aware that frequenting betting shops is ruining his life, consuming a considerable portion of his energy, making him a tense and irritable addict, endangering his family relationships, and so forth, he will, if he has even a little sense, feel sorrow over such a state. Yet in order to free himself from the vice that is poisoning him and destroying his life, a firm decision is also needed—to break with his former behavior at any cost. In practice, this means keeping a wide distance from places of vice and severing every association with the company with whom he used to go to betting shops (in the words of the Lord: If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you… [Matt. 5:30]), as well as breaking every mental bond with the sin of gambling (again, in the Lord’s words: If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you… [Matt. 5:29]). At the same time, active repentance also requires that one begin doing something wholly contrary to one’s former sinful life: in this particular case, that one henceforth live exclusively by earning through the labor of one’s own hands and by applying one’s acquired knowledge in blessed occupations (gambling and betting are certainly not among them). This would be the proper and integral approach; after becoming aware of the sin committed, one must cut off its further practice and establish entirely new, virtuous habits. At the beginning, it is absolutely necessary for a person simply to flee from sin, until, through prayer, fasting, contemplation of God, and the like, he encounters Christ more deeply and comes to love Him with all his heart. When that happens, he will no longer need to flee from sin—sin will flee from him. For we are in sin precisely because we are not sufficiently Christ’s and do not belong to Him with our whole being, but are instead spiritually divided and intellectually fragmented persons. As such, what we need is not deep psychoanalysis, but deep psychosynthesis.
Repentance, then, is the first step in the healing of the soul; a step which, in essence, should direct us away from sin and towards Christ. A particular difficulty on this path arises when a sin has passed into habit and thus become a passion—in that case it is repeated again and again, especially if repentance is not sufficiently deep. The ideal state is that sin be cut off at the root and never repeated again, yet the weakness of human nature is such that repetitions do occur. In this sense, our Christian life consists in “walking” along a spiritual path on which we rise, fall, rise again, cleanse ourselves, and continue on, while repentance ought to remain our constant companion for as long as we live. What matters is that the falls along this journey become weaker, less frequent, and less painful; that we do not keep stumbling over the same stone (only fools do that, as the ancient proverb says); and that repentance become ever deeper and more intense. And we must never forget that throughout this journey, the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life is always beside us, ardently desiring in the end to bring us into the promised joy (cf. John 14:6; Matt. 25:21). All that He asks of us is the effort to remain faithful to Him, and, if we go astray, to repent and amend our lives.
Just as repentance is often understood superficially, so too sin is generally understood in a moralistic sense. In its essence, however, sin is not a moral transgression, but a misdirection of our will—that is, the orientation of our being towards a course that leads us astray and distances us from God, who is the goal and meaning of our life. Sin occurs whenever we do something that is not in accordance with the will of God. In its original meaning, the word “sin” would be translated precisely as “missing the target”—in other words, the moment we miss what is according to God’s will, we find ourselves in a sinful state that ought to be corrected as soon as possible.
Sin is, in fact, an energy that has not been rightly directed and that requires redirection. For example, a person who suffers from hatred towards other people should redirect that energy into hatred of the evil he perceives within himself; a person who longs for passing human glory should redirect that energy into striving for imperishable, eternal glory, the glory of the Kingdom of God; a person who constantly thinks about what others will say about him and how to attract their attention should redirect that energy into the effort to attract God’s attention and to please Him. The energy of sin, therefore, must be transformed into the energy of virtue. This will often not be an easy task, and in order to succeed in it, it is essential that we have spiritual guidance from those who are experienced in the spiritual battlefield.
When we were children, we were guided by our parents, who counselled us to do what is good and to avoid what is bad; when we grew up, the Church, as a caring spiritual mother, began to counsel and direct us in how we should live. If we heed her, we shall preserve the purity of our soul; and if we fall into sin, she will receive us when we come in repentance to be cleansed in her embrace. If a bodily mother always awaits her child with open arms, especially when that child weeps in her embrace over something wrong that has been done, no matter how many times it happens, how much more love and patience will our spiritual Mother, the Church, have towards us? Here we arrive at the theme that naturally follows the process of repentance, namely confession before a priest—the spiritual physician—who will listen to us, cleanse the spiritual wound, and prescribe for us an appropriate “therapy” which, in time, if we apply it, will bring health to our soul.
To be continued…
