True and Sincere Repentance: The Call of Our Conscience

My dear friends in Lord Jesus Christ,as we move forward in the season of Lent, the Lord is repeatedly inspiring us through His Holy Spirit to take a true "U-turn." This U-turn is nothing but sincere repentance—a repentance that possesses the full power to completely transform our lives and reconnect us all with God. However, the arrival of this change in our lives and our reunion with God demands something very deep and perhaps even painful. It asks us for a price that we are all, in some way or another, afraid to pay—and that price is our honesty; or in other words, our faithfulness. The Holy Scripture presents many great examples of this honesty before us. In the Old Testament of the Holy Scripture, we find mentions of Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jacob’s son Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Deborah, Gideon, many prophets, and several kings who walked on the path of God. They remained honest toward God, and God blessed them in every deed, keeping them eternally connected to Himself by remembering the promise made to them. In the New Testament, beyond all these figures of the Old Testament, we find a special personality who is the Son of God and our Lord—none other than our Lord Jesus Christ.

My dear friends, it is my belief that honesty is the greatest virtue. Many people, according to their own contexts, might consider other virtues to be superior. However, when I studied the Holy Scripture and meditated upon its context while searching my own soul, I reached the conclusion in my self-observation that throughout the Scripture, the Lord God—whether it be Adam and Eve in the beginning, the Israelites after them, or even the chosen prophets—commands everyone to remain honest toward Him.In the Book of Deuteronomy (6:5) the Word of the Lord says: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." Generally, if we look at it, a person can love another in such a way only when they are honest toward them or promise to remain faithful. Here, honesty does not mean at all that we consider ourselves superior to others because of this faithfulness, thinking, "Look at me, I am completely devoted, honest, and faithful to God, and you are all sinners; go away, stay far from me." It is to such people, our Lord Jesus says that you honour me with your lips, but your heart is very, very far from me. Even before the rich young man, Lord Jesus placed the final condition that he sell everything he had and then follow Him; but he became sad and never turned back. Lord Jesus today demands honesty from all of us who claim to be followers of His footsteps, saying: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me."

Dear friends, this is the honesty that our Lord desires from us. This is the repentance He hopes for. Denying oneself does not mean at all that you destroy yourself or cause yourself physical harm; rather, the Lord means that you must renounce your pride, your jealousy, your greed, your immoral desires, your attachments, and this selfish life where everything revolves around "I" and "mine." To eliminate these from your thoughts and your life, remain completely dependent on the Lord and follow the teachings given by Him.As for the question of the "daily cross," some might wonder: "If I am completely honest with the Lord and follow His commandments, why do I need to carry a burden every day? Why doesn't the Lord take away the burden of all my sins at once? Why do I need to repent again and again? Is true repentance even possible?"

My dear friends, based on these very questions, I would like to turn you toward the Holy Bible and draw your attention to the lives of the Israelites. My friends, whenever they sinned, God corrected them through His prophets and sometimes even punished them so that they would not forget the promise God made to them and would remain honest toward Him by following His laws. But if this honesty or faithfulness was a one-time event, then according to the Law established by God through Moses on Mount Sinai, the Israelites should never have had the desire to sin again. Then why did they sin repeatedly? Why did they violate God's commandments again and again, and why did they distance themselves so much from God that He had to find opportunities to enter their lives and correct them?Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in the Holy Bible, we find that God has mercy on those who call upon Him and grants them the proper fruit of their repentance. In Genesis 8:21, it is stated that man is inclined toward evil from his youth. Although according to Genesis 1:26-27, man is created in the image of God, many times man fails to realize this and dies after living an ordinary life. But those who, understanding its seriousness and importance, turn toward God from their heart and honestly obey His commandments while depending on Him, are found worthy of producing the proper fruits of repentance and become eligible for the salvation revealed by God—which we receive through Lord Jesus Christ.

Today, we all need to meditate and reflect on this topic: why do we sin again and again? Why are we so weak that Satan repeatedly dominates us, and we fall back into the same mire from which we can never escape? We find the answer to these questions again in Genesis 4:7, when God says to Cain, "If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it." Here, doing right means—remembering and obeying God's commandments at every moment. We find a living example of this in Matthew 4:4, 6, 10, showing how Jesus constantly remembered God's commandments and how He triumphed over Satan. In 1 Peter 5:8, it is written: "Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."

My dear friends, based on my experiences, I believe that sin is a state of mind where we are quite eager to live in a pit filled with mud. we see no difference at all between that mire and a source of water. We are in such a state of unconsciousness there that we do not even realize that this mud is filling us with stains, making us dirty, and soiling our clothes. At that time, we are enjoying it because we are unconscious. But when that mire slowly starts pulling us inward, then we regain consciousness—"Oh! We are in the wrong place." Then we hear the voice of our soul. In such a situation, if we do not take solid steps as soon as possible and do not make an effort to get out of that mud, we will keep sinking into it and eventually vanish within it; and that situation will be more horrific and unseemly than the first.

In Luke 15, we find a very striking account of the Prodigal Son, where he squanders all his property by living a sinful life and then, when his condition becomes pathetic, he realizes how much wrong he has done. In the Holy Scripture, we find examples of King David, King Hezekiah, the people of Nineveh, Zacchaeus the tax collector, the sinful woman, Peter, Paul, the criminal hanging on the cross, and many such individuals who offered true and sincere repentance and, turning away from their sinful life with their whole heart and soul, never dared to turn back toward that deep abyss again. Why so? Because they experienced God's mercy and produced the proper fruits of repentance. They completely dedicated their heart, mind, and soul to that God who could grant them salvation.

In Psalm 42, the Psalmist depicts this state as a longing. The essence of it is that just as the deer pants for streams of water, so the soul of a repentant man constantly longs for God. True and sincere repentance is a continuous process in which, as it intensifies, a person begins to recognize the thirst of their soul. He has now risen far above the weaknesses of his body, and for him, the daily observance of God's commandments becomes his sole duty and faith. He wishes to always remember that his life is now fully dedicated to God, and he never wanders from his path. According to Saint Mother Teresa, "True repentance is manifested not only in words but through love and forgiveness in actions. She believed that true repentance brings us closer to God and is expressed as having empathy for the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross and serving others by embracing their pain."

According to the homily given by Pope Benedict XVI on April 15, 2007, "True repentance is not just the realization of sin, but an honest decision to change oneself by recognizing the love of God. He said that it purifies the soul, which leads us to see the world through God’s eyes and, by delivering us from sin, leads us toward forgiveness and a change of heart. It is a continuous process."

Pope Francis, in his Apostolic Letter "Misericordia et Misera," stated that "True repentance is not merely the counting of sins, but feeling the infinite love and mercy of God. He says that repentance is a change of heart, which gives us the power to accept God’s forgiveness and transform our life. According to him, God never tires of forgiving."

Once, while walking, a man saw a beautiful stone. He did not know its value, but the stone looked very beautiful to him because it was shining brightly. He picked up the stone, put it in his pocket, and started moving forward. On the way, he met his friend. That friend was a diamond cutter; he could identify a diamond even from a distance. This man showed the stone to his friend and, describing its beauty, said, "Oh brother! Just look at this, how does this stone look to you? I find it very beautiful." The friend instantly recognized the stone because it was no ordinary stone, but a diamond. However, he thought to himself, "If I tell him its value, he will never give this stone to me." Therefore, he lied to him, saying it was just an ordinary stone and there was nothing special about it that would even fetch a few pennies. He thought that upon hearing this, the man would throw the stone away, and later he could go and pick up that diamond. And that is exactly what happened; as soon as the man learned that the stone was of no use, he threw it by the roadside and went on his way.

My dear friends, this is how we encounter God. We should always remember His mercy, His love, and the salvation gained through His priceless sacrifice. Satan comes across our path and makes every effort to distract us from recognizing the value of these mysteries of salvation and God's power. He wants us to fail to recognize these gifts received from God and to not produce fruit in our lives accordingly. He wants us to remain forever deprived of God's mercy; he wants us not to receive salvation; he wants there to be a constant rift between God and us.In such a situation, what is our duty? Should we allow Satan to always dominate us? Should we remain deprived of God's mercy by being suppressed by our temptations? Is our faith so weak that we always see Satan triumphing over us? Why do we sin again and again? Why do we repeatedly ask for forgiveness for those specific sins that we always hesitate to commit, yet commit them anyway? Have we allowed the Holy Spirit to work in our lives? Have we dedicated ourselves to God? Have we given God the authority to remove our sins from us? Have we understood the value of the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God? Dear brothers and sisters, Lord Jesus sacrificed Himself on the Cross for the sins of all mankind. In the Jewish tradition, according to the custom of the High Priest of the Temple, every year at the time of Passover, he would take a lamb and lay his hands upon it; it was the belief of the Jews that by doing so, the guilt of the entire world was cast upon that lamb. Then, that lamb was sacrificed in the Temple so that the forgiveness of everyone’s sins could be accomplished through the sacrifice of this lamb. Lord Jesus Christ becomes that very lamb for all of us and sacrifices Himself on the Cross. He was both the Priest and the Lamb to be slain. The Cross was the altar upon which He offered His sacrifice so that people across the world might find salvation from their sins through His sacrifice (Hebrews 4-5).By sacrificing His life once and for all, He established a model for us—that whoever understands the value of this sacrifice, believes in Him, and leads their life according to His teachings, only that person is worthy of being called His true servant. However, Lord Jesus’ plan of salvation does not end with His sacrifice. That sacrifice prepares the way for His Resurrection. This was the goal He set for all of humanity. He explained to us all that just as He remained obedient to His Father until the moment of death and laid down His life fulfilling His will, in the same way, we who believe in Him will share in His Resurrection and find a place in the Kingdom of God.

But to attain this salvation, there is a very real condition before us all: the condition of "true repentance." We have learned in this article how true repentance mends the broken relationship between the Lord and us. And once this relationship is restored, it is entirely our responsibility to keep ourselves nourished by the Spirit of the Lord to maintain that bond. In my reflection, I find that Lord Jesus is waiting for us with open arms. He wants us to repent of our sins as soon as possible, return to Him, and never be parted from Him again. At this moment, some questions might be arising in our hearts, such as: "How can I repent truly? What should I do so that no rift ever occurs in the relationship between the Lord and me? O Lord, how can I remain connected to You? O Lord, I want to be Yours. O Lord, I want to experience Your love. O Lord, by being united with You, I want to make those who are still deprived of Your love feel its presence. O Lord, tell me, what should I do?" In such a situation, the Holy Mother Church places some points before us through which we can grow closer to the Lord, leave behind a sinful life, and fully engage ourselves in Him:

1. Spend more time in prayer and worthly receive the sacrament of reconciliation.

2. Read the Holy Scripture and apply the commandments given therein to our lives.

3. Follow in the footsteps of Lord Jesus and ask Him for the gift of humility and simplicity.

4. Love your neighbours and keep our mind, body, and soul pure.

5. Disregard luxury and make the message of Lord Jesus’ love the foundation of our life.

6. Dedicate yourselves completely to the Lord and allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives, so that He may constantly make us aware of our shortcomings and never let us be separated from the Lord.

I also believe that if we all follow these points with our whole soul, then in the true sense, we can become the Lord's true disciples—disciples who have a spiritual connection with the Lord. Let us pray constantly that God inspires us through His Holy Spirit and grants us the gift of true and sincere repentance, so that by understanding the mystery of the Lord's redemptive passion, death, and resurrection, we may surrender our souls to Him and actively work to spread His Good News to every corner of the world through our virtuous lives.

✍ - Bro. Christson Gill (IMS, Delhi Province)