20170308 TRUE REPENTANCE PRESUPPOSES A HUMBLE AND CONTRITE HEART
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Violet.
|
First reading
|
Jonah 3:1-10 ©
|
The word of the Lord
was addressed a second time to Jonah: ‘Up!’ he said ‘Go to Nineveh, the great
city, and preach to them as I told you to.’ Jonah set out and went to Nineveh
in obedience to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was a city great beyond
compare: it took three days to cross it. Jonah went on into the city, making a
day’s journey. He preached in these words, ‘Only forty days more and Nineveh is
going to be destroyed.’ And the people of Nineveh believed in God; they
proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least. The
news reached the king of Nineveh, who rose from his throne, took off his robe,
put on sackcloth and sat down in ashes. A proclamation was then promulgated
throughout Nineveh, by decree of the king and his ministers, as follows: ‘Men
and beasts, herds and flocks, are to taste nothing; they must not eat, they
must not drink water. All are to put on sackcloth and call on God with all
their might; and let everyone renounce his evil behaviour and the wicked things
he has done. Who knows if God will not change his mind and relent, if he will
not renounce his burning wrath, so that we do not perish?’ God saw their
efforts to renounce their evil behaviour, and God relented: he did not inflict
on them the disaster which he had threatened.
|
Responsorial
Psalm
|
|
Psalm
50(51):3-4,12-13,18-19 ©
|
A humbled,
contrite heart, O God, you will not spurn.
Have mercy on me,
God, in your kindness.
In your
compassion blot out my offence.
O wash me more and
more from my guilt
and
cleanse me from my sin.
A humbled,
contrite heart, O God, you will not spurn.
A pure heart create
for me, O God,
put a
steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away
from your presence,
nor
deprive me of your holy spirit.
A humbled,
contrite heart, O God, you will not spurn.
For in sacrifice you
take no delight,
burnt
offering from me you would refuse,
my sacrifice, a
contrite spirit.
A
humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn.
A humbled,
contrite heart, O God, you will not spurn.
|
Gospel
Acclamation
|
Ezk33:11
|
Glory and praise to
you, O Christ!
I take pleasure, not
in the death of a wicked man
– it is the Lord who
speaks –
but in the turning
back of a wicked man
who changes his ways
to win life.
Glory and praise to
you, O Christ!
|
Or
|
Joel2:12-13
|
Glory and praise to
you, O Christ!
Now, now – it is
the Lord who speaks –
come back to me with
all your heart,
for I am all
tenderness and compassion.
Glory and praise to
you, O Christ!
|
Gospel
|
Luke 11:29-32 ©
|
The crowds got even
bigger, and Jesus addressed them:
‘This
is a wicked generation; it is asking for a sign. The only sign it will be given
is the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will
the Son of Man be to this generation. On Judgement day the Queen of the South
will rise up with the men of this generation and condemn them, because she came
from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is
something greater than Solomon here. On Judgement day the men of Nineveh will
stand up with this generation and condemn it, because when Jonah preached they
repented; and there is something greater than Jonah here.’
TRUE
REPENTANCE PRESUPPOSES A HUMBLE AND CONTRITE HEART
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [ JONAH 3:1-10;
PS 50:3-4,12-13,18-19; LUKE 11:29-32 ]
The
message of Lent is a call to repentance as a prerequisite for the new life that
Christ is offering us at Easter. This is the first and essential step to
take if we are to avail ourselves of the New life of Christ. Otherwise,
at the end of this Lenten season, there will be no experience of resurrection
for us as we remain buried in our grave covered by sins. But not many are
ready to repent, just as many resisted the prophets of old when challenged to
repent. If Jesus was rejected then, should we be surprised that when we
invite people to repent, they harden their hearts even more.
Ironically,
the most difficult people to invite to repent are the new scribes and Pharisees
of our days. These are the priests, religious and pious, active church
members. They live in self-righteousness. We preach to everyone
that they must repent but we ourselves are not repenting of our sins. It
seems the message of repentance is directed at everyone but ourselves. We
are more concerned about others repenting than we ourselves. Perhaps this
is because those of us who are supposedly religious and pious are so exposed to
sacred things that we get jaded and lose the sense of the sacred. It
becomes a profession, doing and saying “religious” things perfunctorily without
sincerely believing in what we say. And because of the lack of honest and
humble self-examination of conscience, we think we are quite holy anyway and
that we have not committed any big sins, unlike the rest of the world. This was
the case of the religious leaders in today’s gospel who rejected our Lord.
Then
there are the real sinners who desire repentance but do not do anything about
it. They know they are living sinful lives. They know that their
life is not in order. They know they are hurting themselves and
others. They know the law but they cannot obey the law. In the
depths of their heart they may desire to come back to God. Alas, the
spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. They cannot find the
impetus or strength to renounce their sins and turn back to God.
Why is
it that people are not heeding the call to repentance? The first reason is
pride. This is the cause of blindness, as in the case of the leaders of
Israel. Their pride was hurt and they were not willing to admit that they
too were sinners. They put up a good show for others to see. Jesus
was a threat to them. Even with all the miracles and signs that Jesus
performed, they could not see that Jesus was the Messiah. When we are
proud, we want to see things our own way. We would not accept the Word of
God. Our ego often gets in the way of our welcoming the simple message of
repentance that is preached. We see this in the case of the
Ninevites. When they heard the message of the prophet Jonah, they
immediately repented. “They proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from
the greatest to the least. The news reached the king of Nineveh, who rose from
his throne, took off his robe, put on sackcloth and sat down in ashes.”
The
second cause of blindness is selfishness. When we think only of
ourselves, we cannot see the bigger picture. Many of us are absorbed in
our own needs and desires. In our selfish pursuit of those things that
entice and attract us, we do not weigh the cost of procuring those
things. That is why people cheat, steal and rob. Many eat, smoke
and drink excessively, causing hurt to themselves and their loved ones.
Indeed, one who cannot see beyond oneself will only do things for short term
gains but long term pain. Because of ambition and greed we ruin our
health and integrity.
Then
there is the third reason for blindness. It is simply ignorance.
Many of us are hurting ourselves and our loved ones without knowing it.
Some parents think that if they have plenty of money, their children will be
happy when what they really want is a loving family and the loving presence of
their parents. Some of us are slaves to pleasure and enjoyment,
apparently oblivious to the consequences of our actions. We pursue dangerous
activities but do we spare a thought for our loved ones who might have to look
after us when we suffer a bad accident, and become crippled for life. Do
we really consider if what we do is really and truly good for us and our loved
ones? Do the means bring about the end that we desire, which is a loving
and happy united family?
How,
then, can we begin the path to repentance? One way is fear, like the
Ninevites. For fear of the punishment of God, they repented. Well, this
is not a bad motive but it is not the highest motive for true repentance.
If we repent out of fear of punishment, then when that possibility is taken
away, we fall back into sin. It is like little children who would only do
what we tell them out of fear of punishment. This way of thinking shows a
lack of maturity in our decisions.
The
only way to repent is as the responsorial psalm says, “A humbled, contrite
heart, O God, you will not spurn.” What is required simply is a humble
heart that recognizes the sins committed, the hurts we have done to God, our
fellowmen and ourselves. Only true humility can bring a person to
contrition. When we think of the pain and suffering we have caused
to others because of our sins, we will then repent. When we steal, do we
ever think how much we are depriving the person and his loved ones of their
needs? When we are unjust in our actions, do we spare a thought that
someone is suffering because we have not been fair?
The
most powerful motivating factor for repentance of heart is when we truly love
God, our loved ones, our fellowmen and ourselves. That is why Jesus said,
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul,
and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as
yourself.” (Lk 10:27)
True conversion must be motivated by love not by fear. When we begin to
understand how our sins affect others and hurt them, especially when they love
us so much, then we will be contrite. The more we fail in love towards
our loved ones, the greater the contrition. So being conscious of the
love of God for us, especially in Christ Jesus’ death on the cross, should
cause us to feel sorrow for our sins because our sins hurt the heart of God
when He sees us hurting ourselves and His people. Being conscious of the
sufferings and anxieties of our loved ones because of our foolish acts will
help us to avoid doing the wrong things.
Consequently,
if we are seeking a new life in Christ, we must spend these weeks of Lent
contemplating on the love and mercy of God in Christ; and the love of our loved
ones so that we can be filled with compunction for our sins. When
we start thinking of all that we have done or failed to do, then we will feel
remorse for our negligence or wrong done to them. We need to withdraw to
the desert during this Lenten season and spend time reviewing our relationship
with God, with others and even the way we treat ourselves. Are we doing
justice to the life that God has given to us and the talents that He has
blessed us with? By coming to consciousness of our failings, we too can
then pray, “Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness. In your compassion
blot out my offence.”
Truly,
the grace of repentance is given to all. We need not wait for the
penitential service to go for confession. Whenever we are properly
prepared and are ready, that is, having a humble and contrite heart, then we
should go for the sacrament of reconciliation. In fact, it is more
effective to go for individual confession as you can confess your sins properly
and be instructed by the confessor. If penitential service has been proven
ineffective as a means of experiencing God’s mercy and effecting a true change
of heart, it is because many go for the service without preparation. They
simply went for confession. They did not hear the Word of God. They
did not spend time reflecting on their life, on all that they had done or
failed to do. So most go for a quick confession without serious and
prolonged preparation. Such confession is more like going to a laundry service
without any intention to keep the clothes clean for long.
Let us
not miss out this grace of repentance. We should individually make time
to go through our life. We have a few weeks to do so. Reading the
Word of God daily as provided in the mass text, and applying it to our lives
will help us to come to a state of awareness and contrition. Let us not
delay but start now. Give yourself at least half an hour of prayer and
reflection every day. Take note of your sins and your struggles so that
when the time comes for confession, you are ready with a contrite heart.
And when you confess sincerely from your heart, you will be washed clean and
God’s presence will return to you. You will experience His joy, His love
and, most of all, a new life. Do not wait or delay longer,
otherwise you will be condemned, as Jesus says in the gospel, by the Ninevites
and the Queen of the South.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment