Penance/Repentance

As a season of penance Lent gives us a time of year to consider the ever-present need to turn away from sin and to turn to God.

Before I became a Catholic I wasn't accustomed to thinking of "penance." The idea of living a penitential lifestyle wasn't something that I considered. I recall, during the Lent that led up to my reception in the Church, even being rebuked by a close Evangelical friend for suggesting the idea of living a life of penance.

Although penance wasn't part of my way of talking before I was Catholic, the idea of repentance was something that I had grown acquainted with as a Pentecostal. In order to deal with one's sins it was necessary to repent of them. To repent, as I understood it, involved a permanent—at least in intention—turn from that which stood in the way of my relationship with God.

I still believe in repenting as a way of growing closer to God. Lent is a season to learn how to repent perfectly. True contrition always leads to conversion, to turning away from sin and toward God. I have come to believe that when our faith makes us ready God prepares our hearts for a more meaningful celebration of the Sacrament of Penance by inviting us to repent thoroughly.

The Act of Contrition itself bears much more meaning when it is spoken with the heart. Often I have wondered what perfect contrition would look like; however, I may have thought of it more of saying—or praying—the right words. Now it seems rather clear that perfect contrition is born of the decision, or even the desire in the beginning, to leave sin behind permanently.

Penance is the kind of thing that we receive in a moment of true clarity when we suddenly become aware and realize that it has been in our power all along to resist temptation.

Our actions speak to God. Here I'm talking about our attitude toward ourselves, especially in making the admission of our need for God's help when it comes to sin. We say yes to God's grace when we acknowledge our weakness, and when we say with our deeds "I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed."  How often have we received Holy Communion when we should have received Penance first?

The battle against sin is not one fought alone. Frequent reception of the Sacrament of Penance not only heals us but it fortifies us to avoid that which wounds our relationship with God. We have received the way of penance: prayer, fasting, and alms work to sanctify us and strengthen us. Prayer summons more powers of help than we might possibly imagine.

Living a lifestyle of penance is taking up our cross, not only seasonally but perpetually. Repentance clears the way for relationship with Holy Spirit, for having in us the mind of Christ. We come to know Jesus by becoming a friend to him. It is a matter of making a willful choice to serve the Lord.

Comments

[Carol]

Amen. Beautifully said.