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by St. Ignatius Brianchaninov –
\n\u201cRepent!\u201d What does it mean to repent? A certain great Holy Father answers this question (St Pimen the Great). It means to admit and feel remorse for one\u2019s sins, to abandon one\u2019s sins, and to never return to them. <\/p>\n
\u201cRepent!\u201d Reject not only the obvious sins\u2014murder, theft, fornication, slander, lying\u2014but also sinful entertainments, pleasures of the flesh, sinful fantasy, and unlawful thoughts, everything forbidden by the Gospels. Wash away your previous sinful life with tears of sincere repentance.<\/p>\n
Do not say to yourself in your despair and spiritual paralysis: \u201cI fell into heavy sins, I acquired sinful habits through a long sinful life; with time they became like congenital defects, they have made repentance impossible for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
These dark thoughts are inspired by your enemy<\/b> whom you still do not notice or understand (St. Macarius the Great, Homily 7, ch. 2). He knows the power of repentance, and he fears that it will tear you from his grasp, so he tries to distract you from repentance, ascribing weakness to God\u2019s all-powerful treatment.<\/p>\n
The establisher of repentance is your Creator, Who created you out of nothing. It is so easy for Him to re-create you, to transform your heart, to make a God-loving heart out of a sin-loving heart, to make a pure, spiritual, holy heart out of a sensual, carnal, evil-intentioned, earthly heart.<\/p>\n
Brothers! Let us come to know the unutterable love God shows to our fallen human race.<\/b> The Lord became incarnate so that through the incarnation He would take upon Himself the punishment deserved by mankind, and through the punishment of the all-holy, He would redeem the guilty from punishment.<\/p>\n
What attracted Him to us here, on earth, to the country of our exile? Our righteousness? No! He was called down by the fallen state to which we had descended because of our sinfulness.<\/p>\n
Sinners! Let us be bold. For us, truly for us, did the Lord accomplish the great work of His incarnation; he looked upon our sickness with unimaginable compassion.<\/p>\n
Let us stop vacillating! Let us stop falling into despair and doubt!<\/b> Let us approach repentance full of faith, zeal, and gratitude, and through its mediation let us be reconciled with God.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live\u201d (Ezek. 18:21-22). Such a promise is given by God to the sinner, through the words of His great prophet.<\/p>\n
Let us reciprocate, as much as our feeble strength allows, the Lord\u2019s great love for us, but only in accordance with our situation as fallen creatures of a loving Creator.<\/p>\n
Let us repent! Let us repent not only with our lips.<\/b> Let us prove our repentance not with a few, fleeting tears, not with a superficial participation in the Church\u2019s services and rites, with which the Pharisees were content. Together with tears, with external piety, let us reap a harvest worthy of repentance.<\/p>\n
Let us change our sinful life to a Gospel life.<\/p>\n