On Repentance

Repentance opens us to being healed.  We cast ourselves on the mercy of the one who loved us into being and died to redeem human beings and the whole creation.  In prayer we turn to the cross of Christ, where malice and ignorance are perpetually met by the forgiving love of God.  Kneeling before the crucified Jesus, we can express not only our grief and anger, but also our guilt, because here at the cross, God’s loving-kindness always meets us afresh.  The cross is where we finally face and bear our anger, grief, and guilt—where Christ can hold and bear for us what we cannot bear ourselves.

Repentance prepares us for the impending birth of Christ within us, for it does not leave us hopeless and passive, mired in despair.  Repentance connects us to an upwelling hope and love that seem to come from nowhere, a divine spring that sustains creative action.  Maybe you’ve experienced this, too: even as you weep with contrition, you sense a surge of joy.  Admitting and grieving our guilt can release us from its grip.  When we are forgiven much, we know how deeply we are loved; when we know how deeply we are loved, we are set free to love generously, even extravagantly (Luke 7:36-50).

– from Joy of Heaven, to Earth Come Down by Margaret Bullitt-Jonas

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