While the struggles of the last year may seem like Lent never ended, it is once again upon us. However, the central message of Lent is always timely and perhaps more real to us because of the various struggles in our world today.
Lent’s central message is the central message of Jesus: repentance. This is in fact how St. Mark summarizes Jesus’ whole message. We heard it at Sunday Mass just a few weeks ago. When Jesus begins to preach, he says, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15).
Is this really the true heart of Jesus’ message? I thought Jesus spoke about love, love of God, love of neighbor? It is about love! Repentance is how we embrace love, it is how we respond to love, it is how we receive love. How does Jesus love us? Jesus comes down from heaven to meet us where we are, but he doesn’t come to leave us where we are. He comes to free us from sin and invite us to share in his divine life. He came “to proclaim release to the captives, and … to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Lk 4:18). The main thing Jesus wants to free us from is the captivity of our sins, and he does this through repentance and mercy.
What is repentance? Repentance is the acknowledgment that I am a sinner and the invitation to turn from my sin and follow God. Repentance invites an honest assessment of my situation in light of who Jesus is. And whenever I stand in the light of Jesus and his love, I realize I am a sinner. Jesus makes clear that God sees everyone the same, because he sees us all as sinners (Rom 3:23).
In responding to a question about some Galileans who were killed by Pilate, Jesus explained to the people of his time: “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered thus? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Silo’am fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish” (Lk 13:1-5).
What is the key to receiving Jesus’ love? Recognizing that we are sinners, acknowledging our sins to God in sorrow, and seeking to turn from those sins and embrace the way of life Jesus offered. This repentance allows us to receive mercy. Mercy is God’s love for the sinner, and mercy is what fills us with his new life.
All of us are deeply wounded by sin. First, we have the threefold effects of original sin in us: 1. We have disordered desires (for food, sleep, sex, pleasure, comfort, etc.). 2. We have a darkened intellect (i.e., we cannot fully see reality, especially in ourselves). 3. We have a weakened will (the mystery that we often choose what we know is wrong, or we find the thing we know is good is hard to do).
Second, we are also wounded by the sinful choices of ourselves and others. St. Paul says, “the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23). When we sin, it brings death into our lives, in little ways and in big ways. This is one of the reasons there is so much suffering in our world today, so many hearts that have been wounded by the brokenness of sin.
Then you add to that the pain and isolation of the coronavirus, the vitriol of the political divisions and you get anger and violence in our world. Why? The troubles of our world become salt in the wounds of our hearts, hearts which have been wounded by sin. When our wounds aren’t healed, they become places where we wound others. This is why Jesus came to save us from sin, and why repentance leads to true love. For if we are willing to do the hard work of repentance, Jesus’ mercy can heal the wounds of our hearts.
One of the problems of our modern world is that it misunderstands Jesus’ message of mercy and characterizes it as a message of “tolerance.” With tolerance: nothing is wrong, and no one needs to be forgiven. However, as Pope Francis has made clear, the only way to receive mercy is to admit that something is wrong and we need to be forgiven. “Sin is more than a stain. Sin is a wound; it needs to be treated, healed. The place where my encounter with the mercy of Jesus takes place is my sin,” he said in “The Name of God is Mercy,” co-written by Andrea Tornielli in 2016. Unless we are willing to name and acknowledge our sins, we cannot receive God’s healing mercy. If we downplay sin and tell people it is no big deal, we actually prevent them from receiving his mercy.
This is the purpose of the sacrament of reconciliation. The beauty of this sacrament is that it applies the medicine of mercy right to the particular wounds that we confess to the priest. Right there, God’s mercy goes and begins to heal the wounds from those sins. This is why a good examination of conscience is so helpful. The better my confession, the more contrition (sorrow for my sin), the more I receive God’s healing power.
The goal of Lent is to let his healing go deep in me. Through examining myself and knowing my sins, and through repenting of them concretely in the sacrament of confession, my heart is gradually healed and I am able to receive the very life of God into my heart. Through his mercy, I gradually experience the new life that Jesus came to bring me. I become like Jesus a wounded healer, instead of a wounded wounder!
And so, as we begin Lent, my encouragement for you is the same as Jesus: Repent! Take the time to make a good confession, maybe even more than one. This is what will heal the wounds in your heart, and only by healing the wounds in our own hearts can we begin to heal the world.
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