Daily Journey Through the Great Fast With the Early Churchনমুনা

This past week we read how when we decide to put our mind to a good service, work or habit that we often get tempted but our victory over these temptations is holding on to God and His word, to defend ourselves by Scripture and to flee from the devil. What happens if we slip, do we just call it a day and throw in the towel? “I did the best I could and I fell short.”

Yes, we are human and that’s part of our nature to fall short, but how we respond to our shortcomings and sins determines what we receive. We can continue to fill our eyes with sin or we can, by the Sacraments of Repentance and Confession (they go hand in hand), be cleansed of our sins and start fresh again. If we continue in sin, we continue to fill ourselves with darkness, we will, in the end, receive a place in “everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels (followers)” [Matthew 25:41] but if we choose daily, even though we may sin many times in the day, to repent and confess our sins to God in the presence of the priest, we will, in the end, “inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” [Matthew 25:34].

The word for “repentance” in the New Testament is “metanoia” - a change of mind…it means to reorient my vision of the world and myself into a way of God and His love. Repentance is not merely to regret my sins but to recognize that sin separates me from the love of God, that we “divide” ourselves from Him and deprive ourselves of His grace and freedom.

The Greek root word “diavallo” is the basis for the word “devil” meaning to “tear asunder” - the devil wants to “tear” and “divide” you from God and His love. Repentance therefore cannot, and is not, a one time regretting of sins and does not come from our mind but it is from our hearts, daily, ongoing, for the rest of our lives. When we repent daily and confess our sins we do not give room for the devil to tear us away from God and His love.

Repentance and confession, in the life of the Christian believer, will cause us to come face to face with our sins, take responsibility for them, humble us because we refuse to keep anything hidden from Him, it allows for us to be healed by the Great Physician (John 5:1-9) and shows that we are not relying on ourselves for change but rather we are asking for and relying on God’s help to save us.

“Repentance is salvation, but lack of understanding is the death of repentance.” [St. Basil the Great, 4th century Bishop of Caesarea, Confessor and a “doctor of the Church”]This past week we read how when we decide to put our mind to a good service, work or habit that we often get tempted but our victory over these temptations is holding on to God and His word, to defend ourselves by Scripture and to flee from the devil. What happens if we slip, do we just call it a day and throw in the towel? “I did the best I could and I fell short.”

Yes, we are human and that’s part of our nature to fall short, but how we respond to our shortcomings and sins determines what we receive. We can continue to fill our eyes with sin or we can, by the Sacraments of Repentance and Confession (they go hand in hand), be cleansed of our sins and start fresh again. If we continue in sin, we continue to fill ourselves with darkness, we will, in the end, receive a place in “everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels (followers)” [Matthew 25:41] but if we choose daily, even though we may sin many times in the day, to repent and confess our sins to God in the presence of the priest, we will, in the end, “inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” [Matthew 25:34].

The word for “repentance” in the New Testament is “metanoia” - a change of mind…it means to reorient my vision of the world and myself into a way of God and His love. Repentance is not merely to regret my sins but to recognize that sin separates me from the love of God, that we “divide” ourselves from Him and deprive ourselves of His grace and freedom.

The Greek root word “diavallo” is the basis for the word “devil” meaning to “tear asunder” - the devil wants to “tear” and “divide” you from God and His love. Repentance therefore cannot, and is not, a one time regretting of sins and does not come from our mind but it is from our hearts, daily, ongoing, for the rest of our lives. When we repent daily and confess our sins we do not give room for the devil to tear us away from God and His love.

Repentance and confession, in the life of the Christian believer, will cause us to come face to face with our sins, take responsibility for them, humble us because we refuse to keep anything hidden from Him, it allows for us to be healed by the Great Physician (John 5:1-9) and shows that we are not relying on ourselves for change but rather we are asking for and relying on God’s help to save us.

“Repentance is salvation, but lack of understanding is the death of repentance.” [St. Basil the Great, 4th century Bishop of Caesarea, Confessor and a “doctor of the Church”]