Turn Away From Sin

Turn Away from Sin; Be Faithful to the Gospel
Fr. John Corapi, SOLT 2/9/2004
The holy season of Lent helps us to come into a greater awareness of reality: the reality of God's infinite love and mercy, and the reality of our urgent need of this loving mercy. We are sinners.
Indeed, as St. John the Evangelist reminds us, "If we say, 'We are free of the guilt of sin,' we deceive ourselves; the truth is not to be found in us. But if we acknowledge our sins, he who is just can be trusted to forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrong" (1 John 1:8-9).
There are two essential parts of this truth: first, we are indeed sinners, much in need of mercy; second, God is more than ready, willing and able to forgive our sins and restore us to grace. The "Good News" is that God has indeed sent his Son that we might be liberated from the slavery of sin. The essential prerequisite of receiving God's mercy, however, is repentance. If we say we are without sin, or that some of our sinful actions are not in fact sinful, then we reject God's healing mercy.
"Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel," (Mark 1:15) the priest says as he places the ashes on the forehead of the faithful. These words in effect began the active ministry of Jesus. They are likewise the essence of the message of St. John the Baptist and all the prophets, of whom Jesus is the personification and consummation of their prophetic message. Lent is a time of mercy; a time to indeed reform our lives and be faithful to the Gospel, for indeed (as the other formula for placing the ashes on the foreheads of believers has it), "Remember, you are dust and to dust you will return."
Jesus calls each one of us to conversion. Baptism is the place of the first and fundamental conversion (Catechism #1427). Conversion is not a one-time thing, however. We are called to a constant and lifelong conversion. "It is an uninterrupted task for the whole Church who, clasping sinners to her bosom, [is] at once holy and always in need of purification, [and] follows constantly the path of penance and renewal" (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium 8:3).
Authentic penance or conversion is first and foremost interior (#1430). This interior conversion then manifests itself in the exterior works of penance such as fasting, almsgiving and prayer. As the Catechism teaches us, interior repentance is a radical reorientation of our whole life, a return, a conversion to God with all our heart, an end of sin, and a turning away from evil, with repugnance toward the evil actions we have committed. At the same time it entails the desire and resolution to change one's life, with hope in God's mercy and trust in the help of his grace (#1431).
Our interior works of penance can take many forms. Scripture and the fathers of the church insist above all on three main forms: fasting, prayer and almsgiving, which express conversion of heart in relation to oneself, to God and to others (#1434).
Pope Paul VI's Apostolic Constitution on Penance, Paenitemini (Feb. 17, 1966), is the most important immediate post-Vatican II document on penance. It reflects the Council's thought on the nature and necessity of penance. Chapter one of that document reminds us, "Therefore, following the Master, every Christian must renounce himself, take up his own cross and participate in the sufferings of Christ...Furthermore, following the Master, he can no longer live for himself, but must live for Him who loves him and gave Himself for him. He will also have to live for his brethren, completing in his flesh that which is lacking in the sufferings of Christ...for the benefit of his body, which is the Church" (Colossians 1:24).
Pope Paul VI, in the same document, declared and established among other things that, "By divine law all the faithful are required to do penance." Penance takes many forms, but the church, in the same document, insists, first of all, that the virtue of penance be exercised in persevering faithfulness to the duties of one's state in life, in the acceptance of the difficulties arising from one's work and from human coexistence, in a patient bearing of the trials of earthly life and of the utter insecurity which pervades it (Paul VI, Paenitemini, Chapter 3).
Our interior conversion of heart thus takes many concrete forms, not the least of which is living out our state of life with generous acceptance of the normal trials and tribulations which accompany it. Likewise, as the Catechism teaches us, conversion is accomplished in daily life by gestures of reconciliation, concern for the poor, the exercise and defense of justice and right, the admission of faults to one's brethren, fraternal correction, revision of life, examination of conscience, spiritual direction, acceptance of suffering, and endurance of persecution for the sake of righteousness. Taking up one's cross each day and following Jesus is the surest way of penance (#1435).
Lent is indeed a time of conversion. Our interior penance should then manifest and prove itself in the exterior works of penance. The interior and exterior dimensions of conversion and penance are not in opposition; they are complimentary, and together they comprise the integral work of authentic penance. The interior disposition leads surely to the concrete exterior works of penance, and the exterior works should give evidence of the proper interior disposition.
Concretely, during Lent we should be praying more; we should fast as our physical condition permits us prudently; and we should share what we have with others. This may take the form of almsgiving--more relevant than ever for those of us living in an affluent society, considering the degrading poverty of so many millions today. It can also mean sharing our time with the poor and needy, volunteer work in soup kitchens, hospitals, etc.
The three traditional forms of penance strengthen each other. As Scripture tells us, "a three-ply cord is not easily broken" (Ecclesiastes 4:12). Fasting strengthens our prayer and almsgiving and gives evidence of the virtue which prayer and fasting promote. This Lent, persevering faithfully in the daily duties of our state in life, may the spirit of prayer, fasting and almsgiving lead us safely and surely through the 40 days in the desert ever closer to the promised land of the Resurrection.