20250227 DO NOT DELAY REPENTANCE
27 February 2025, Thursday, 7th Week in Ordinary Time
First reading |
Ecclesiasticus 5:1-10 |
Do not delay your return to the Lord
Do not give your heart to your money,
or say, ‘With this I am self-sufficient.’
Do not be led by your appetites and energy
to follow the passions of your heart.
And do not say, ‘Who has authority over me?’
for the Lord will certainly be avenged on you.
Do not say, ‘I sinned, and what happened to me?’
for the Lord’s forbearance is long.
Do not be so sure of forgiveness
that you add sin to sin.
And do not say, ‘His compassion is great,
he will forgive me my many sins’;
for with him are both mercy and wrath,
and his rage bears heavy on sinners.
Do not delay your return to the Lord,
do not put it off day after day;
for suddenly the Lord’s wrath will blaze out,
and at the time of vengeance you will be utterly destroyed.
Do not set your heart on ill-gotten gains,
they will be of no use to you on the day of disaster.
Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 1:1-4,6 |
Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.
Happy indeed is the man
who follows not the counsel of the wicked;
nor lingers in the way of sinners
nor sits in the company of scorners,
but whose delight is the law of the Lord
and who ponders his law day and night.
Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.
He is like a tree that is planted
beside the flowing waters,
that yields its fruit in due season
and whose leaves shall never fade;
and all that he does shall prosper.
Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.
Not so are the wicked, not so!
For they like winnowed chaff
shall be driven away by the wind:
for the Lord guards the way of the just
but the way of the wicked leads to doom.
Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.
Gospel Acclamation | cf.Lk8:15 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessed are those who,
with a noble and generous heart,
take the word of God to themselves
and yield a harvest through their perseverance.
Alleluia!
Or: | cf.1Th2:13 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Accept God’s message for what it really is:
God’s message, and not some human thinking.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Mark 9:41-50 |
If your hand should cause you to sin, cut it off
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘If anyone gives you a cup of water to drink just because you belong to Christ, then I tell you solemnly, he will most certainly not lose his reward.
‘But anyone who is an obstacle to bring down one of these little ones who have faith, would be better thrown into the sea with a great millstone round his neck. And if your hand should cause you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life crippled, than to have two hands and go to hell, into the fire that cannot be put out. And if your foot should cause you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life lame, than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye should cause you to sin, tear it out; it is better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell where their worm does not die nor their fire go out. For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is a good thing, but if salt has become insipid, how can you season it again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.’
DO NOT DELAY REPENTANCE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Ecclesiasticus 5:1-10; Ps 1:1-4,6; Mk 9:41-50 ]
The scripture readings today call us to repentance. The book of Sirach warns us, “Do not delay your return to the Lord, do not put it off day after day; for suddenly the Lord’s wrath will blaze out, and at the time of vengeance you will be utterly destroyed.” So what are the reasons preventing people from seeking repentance? Why is the call to repentance taken so lightly?
Firstly, the danger for many of us is that we think we still have time to repent. This is what the Evil One wants us to think – that there is no hurry; that we still have a long runway on this earth. And so we continue to live in our sins. We say to ourselves, when I am closer to the end of my runway, then I will repent and live a good life. However, the truth is that one cannot die well unless one lives well. Conversion is not an overnight decision. What we do today will determine what we do tomorrow. The heart does not change overnight. Change is a process. Love does not come overnight. So if we think that we love God and desire Him, that love must begin here and now. It must grow from strength to strength. To be good, we must first begin to do good here and now. To think and act with compassion, we must begin here and now. Virtues for holiness require time to build up and be strengthened. So we must not deceive ourselves into thinking that we can take the short cut to holiness or sainthood. If we are serious about preparing ourselves to share the life of God, we must do it now.
Secondly, because we are presumptuous. Many of us realize that we are not living the life that God wants us to live. We know that we are living a sinful life. But we make excuses for ourselves, saying that we are weak and God is merciful and compassionate. Sirach again warns “Do not be so sure of forgiveness that you add sin to sin. And do not say, ‘His compassion is great, he will forgive me my many sins’; for with him are both mercy and wrath, and his wage bears heavy on sinners.” Whilst it is true that God is always merciful and compassionate, we cannot take His grace for granted. It is true that He will always forgive us when we repent, but we might not be in a disposition to receive His forgiveness when the time comes because our hearts could be hardened by then. We lose faith in God, and if we mess up our lives, we also lose faith in our fellowmen. We will blame everyone except ourselves, including God. Presumption is the offspring of pride and disobedience.
Thirdly, the delay in repentance is also due to our sense of self-sufficiency. Again, Sirach warns those of us who are rich and have many resources. “Do not give your heart to your money, or say, ‘With this I am self-sufficient.’ Do not be led by your appetites and energy to follow the passions of your heart. And do not say, ‘Who has authority over me?” Those of us who are rich tend to think that we are self-sufficient, and we do not really need God. We think that if we study hard and do well in our studies, we will always be successful in life. In truth, success is not just due to hard work or intelligence but to many unknown factors, like the people you know, the opportunities available to us, the circumstances, our health, etc. Those who are doing well in life today may not necessarily be the top students in school but were school dropouts. Whereas those who were scholars may earn a decent salary, those who were apparent failures in school are among the richest entrepreneurs, because they dared to venture out and take risks, are creative and resourceful.
For those who are already rich and powerful, God would be the last person they would turn to in their daily lives. In fact, God is often out of the picture. If they need God, it is only in time of crisis, when money and power cannot save the situation, as in a terminal illness or failed relationship. Also, we think that so long as we have plenty of money, we do not have to worry much because all our needs will be taken care of. It might be true, but then one has to worry about what to do with the money and how to make it grow and how to distribute it. With money, we do not know who is our true friend. At any rate, even if we have all the money in the world, there is no peace because our loved ones would be fighting over our property. So money is not the solution to everything in life. Money and power can be a curse because of the political wrangling among those who are waiting to grab our money and our power. This is why we must take heed of the counsel of Sirach, “Do not set your heart on ill-gotten gains, they will be of no use to you on the day of disaster.” The psalmist also says, “Not so are the wicked, not so! For they like winnowed chaff shall be driven away by the wind for the Lord guards the way of the just but the way of the wicked leads to doom.”
Consequently, we must take the call to repentance seriously. The Lord warns us, “if your hand should cause you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life crippled, than to have two hands and go to hell, into the fire that cannot be put out. And if your foot should cause you sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye should cause you to sin, tear it out; it is better for you to enter into kingdom of God with one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell where their worm does not die nor their fire go out.” Indeed, we must weigh our priorities. Instead of focusing on what is temporary and transient, we must take a long-term view of what is eternal. We must not be short-sighted, in seeking the passing pleasures and glory of today and miss out on the joy and glory of being in the kingdom of God with our Lord for all eternity.
Indeed, the lack of a consciousness of the shortness of life and the truth about our immortality is one of the causes why people delay repentance. The psalmist reminds us, “You turn us back to dust, and say, ‘Turn back, you mortals.’ For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night.” (Ps 90:3f) Many of us live as if there is only one life on this earth, and it finishes when we die. We have been influenced by atheism – that we are merely dust. There is no soul, no eternity, no life to come in the next world. In this world today, transcendence and hope do not have a place in man’s heart. Everything ends in this world, good or bad. All of us will suffer the same fate regardless of what we do. Hence, it is better for us not to miss out, but seek to enjoy ourselves as much as we can because everything would be over at our death. But this is against what the Lord warns us because the fire of hell would not be put out.
Because of the fact that we influence each other for good or for worse, all the more, we need to repent so that we do not perpetuate sin in this world. Jesus warns us, “‘But anyone who is an obstacle to bring down one of these little ones who have faith, would be better thrown into the sea with a great millstone round his neck.” What could be worse is to lead others to sin. Our sins not only affect us but affect our loved ones, our friends and colleagues. Sin is not just a personal matter but has a communitarian dimension. And when we realize that because of our negligence and indifference to sin, we lead others to sin, the gravity of our sins would be even heavier. When we realize the seriousness of our sins, we might not be able to forgive ourselves.
Hence, let us repent every day in our lives. Let us ask for the grace to live a virtuous life. We follow the counsel of the psalmist. “Happy indeed is the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked; nor lingers in the way of sinners nor sits in the company of scorners, but whose delight is the law of the Lord and who ponders his Law, day and night. He is like a tree that is planted beside the flowing waters, that yields its fruit in due season and whose leaves shall never fade; and all that he does shall prosper.” We must stay close to the Lord and drink from Him, the fountain of love and wisdom. We need to salt ourselves with the Word of God again and again, for the Lord said to us, “For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is a good thing, but if salt has become insipid, how can you season it again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.” Truly, we need to be constantly purified by the Word of God and most of all by works of charity. The Lord assures us, “If anyone gives you a cup of water to drink just because you belong to Christ, then I tell you solemnly, he will most certainly not lose his reward.”
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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