Reflections | REPENT

Watch as Msgr. Don reflects on why reflection is so important for repenting.

Good morning. I want to talk this morning about a word in scripture. It's the words repent. And there's a phrase in scripture that I think is so interesting is it says, “Unless you repent, you cannot enter the kingdom of God.” You can't enter the kingdom that God has created for you, which is the life with him that he wants you to have.

As a younger person, I used to think repent just meant, you know, stop sinning. When you went to confession as a Catholic, you were supposed to make this act of contrition that said, I will not ever do this sin again. But I realize repent has a much more nuanced meaning. And it goes something like this. When you sin, and everybody's sins, let's face it. When you make a mistake, when you miss the mark, I don't care how serious it is or how insignificant it might be, we still have a sense that we did something wrong. Okay, well, then what are you supposed to do when you do something wrong? Are you supposed to just stop doing it, or you're supposed to learn from it?

And that's where repentance comes in, because the word repent means to regret, and you can't regret something you've done unless you reflect upon it, which you should take the time to sit back and say, “What was I doing? Why did I say that? Why did I act that way?” That's the work of working with sin, and repentance is the key to moving from sin and the mistakes that are in those sins to a motivation that is within you that says, “I'm not going to do this again because I regret that I did it because I see it for what it is.” So I hope that helps. It's just thinking about repentance is not just stopping sinning because I am told to, but because I reflected on it. I realize how stupid or how selfish or how how that's not really me.

So reflection over our mistakes is essential. If you want to enter into the Kingdom of God, which is a place of acceptance, support and patient love.

Have a good day.

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Kyle Cross