A Call to Repentance Before the Beginning of the Fast

Many of you are aware of the conspiracy on the part of the current government to deprive the Catholic Church of its right to freely practice and express its faith.  Regardless of whether the Department of Health and Human Services decides to reverse its decision, or whether the Congress of the United States acts to change the law, the Catholic Church will not obey this unjust law.  The Church will act according to the teaching, which she received from the Lord, no matter what the cost.  Naturally, the bishops of our Church urge all to pray for the equitable resolution to this conflict.

Call to Repentance

Brothers in sisters in Christ—

     The Gospel reading is all about repentance—turning back to God.  Repentance is the core of the message of the entire Gospel of Jesus Christ.  When St. John the Baptist began his ministry, the theme of his preaching was “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,” and when the Lord Jesus began His public ministry, he preached the same theme. 

     In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the wayward son looks around at the sorry condition to which he has fallen, and decides to return to his father’s house.  In the same way, each of us sinful human beings is called to embrace repentance—to look around at the sinful condition, and the slavery to sin, into which we have descended, and decide to return to our Father’s house.

     There is no greater horror in all of Creation than sin (the offense against God’s commandments, the distortion and misuse of the good things that God has created, and the rejection of God’s friendship and love). We should not think for an instant that we can sin and not reject God. We should not think that we can break His commandments and still remain in His love.  His love, Divine Charity, is the life of our soul.  As the image of God, we were created to share the same life with God, but when we sin against Him, we reject His Life; we cast His Love out of our souls.  The human soul in union with God is creation’s most beautiful treasure, but the human soul darkened by sin, without the light of the Life of God, is a horror to God, the angels and nature—a parody of the Divine Image that it was created to be.  The human soul that is darkened by sin is dead, and although, by the mercy of God, its natural life might continue for a time in the hope of its repentance, it is incapable of supernatural life.  If bodily death overtakes the soul that lives in sin, it will inherit the spiritual death that it chose by its sins.  It will become like a demon, filled with rage and remorse, without hope, and without consolation for all eternity.

God—the Source of Life

     To remain in God’s Life, we must adhere to His commandments.  In the same way, those who live at an oasis in the desert cannot decide to strike out into the chartless desert and settle there. If they do, they will die.  No, they must remain near the life-giving water, for they draw their life from the water, as do their crops and their livestock.  God, like the water of the oasis, is the Source of Life for the whole Creation.  If we depart from Him, and turn our back on Him through sin, then we will die a supernatural death that is an everlasting torment.

The Sacrament of Holy Confession

     Nevertheless, God’s love continuously calls us back to Himself, when we have fallen into sin.  In the parable, it was the son’s memory of his father’s love and goodness that brought him to take the road back to his home country.  In the same way, when we have fallen into sin and the Life of God has died in us, when the virtues have been dispelled from our souls by sin, God leaves us with enough faith to return to Him.  He gives us the Mystery of Holy Confession, so that we can descend into Christ’s sufferings with Him, and rise with Him, forgiven and reconciled to our Father, God. Enormous is the bounty that God gives us in Holy Confession, for there is no limit to what God will forgive at the word of His Church. 

     The closer we get to God, the more we understand that returning to God in repentance is a continuous, constant resolution.  When we fall into serious sin, we decide to return to God through the Sacrament of Holy Confession, but when we commit lesser faults, from day to day, we return to Him through a simple act of sorrow, and a renewal of our love and longing for Him.  When, during the day, we forget His Presence on account of this or that distraction, and then, all at once, we remember Him, then we express our love for Him anew, and continue our work with a renewed resolution to not forget Him again. In this way, we make our whole day holy.  My grandfather was a clockmaker.  His shop was filled with clocks set to precisely the same time, and, on the hour, they would all chime together.  Sleeping in the rooms adjoining the shop was challenging until we got used to it. We learned as little children, each time we heard the clocks chime to say “Our Father” and “Hail Mary,” as a way of keeping the remembrance of God.  Each of us has to determine how best, in his individual circumstances, to be constantly reminded of God.

     Each of us is a Prodigal Son, in need of repentance—the restoration of Our Father’s Life within our souls.  When we fall into sin, let us hasten quickly to Him in the Sacrament of Holy Confession.  When we carry a heavy burden of sorrow in our hearts, let us come quickly to pour out our hearts before Him in the Holy Eucharist.  He is here! It is true, He is everywhere by His power and His knowledge, but not as He is here. He is here as He was when He walked the earth in the company of the Holy Apostles.  He is here in the fullness of His humanity and His Divinity, in the selfsame Body and Blood that He offered on the Cross for our salvation.  He is here! Take refuge in Him! Spend time in prayer before Him.  You will find the more often you visit Him, the greater your consolation will be.