Day 197: Forms of Penance (1434-1439)

• It’s Day 197!!

• Conversion is a PROCESS

• Conversion is an INTERIOR REPENTANCE

• Conversion is a RADICAL REORIENTATION OF OUR WHOLE LIFE

• Conversion is a RETURN

• A CONVERSION TO GOD WITH ALL OUR HEART

• Conversion is AN END OF SIN

• INCREDIBLE!!

• THE MANY FORMS OF PENANCE IN CHRISTIAN LIFE

• We know PRAYER, FASTING, ALMSGIVING

• These are things that Scripture presents to us as ways to turn to the Lord

• These are not meant to be simply external things

• They are meant to REACH OUR HEARTS

• Paragraph 1435 says, “Conversion is accomplished in daily life by gestures of reconciliation, concern for the poor, the exercise and defense of justice and right, by the admission of faults to one’s brethren, fraternal correction, revision of life, examination of conscience, spiritual direction, acceptance of suffering, endurance of persecution for the sake of righteousness. Taking up one’s cross each day and following Jesus is the surest way of penance.”

• Today we have a list of movements that people can do that orient them more and more towards conversion

• ALL OF THEM COME FROM SCRIPTURE!!

• Paragraph 1438 says, “The seasons and days of penance in the course of the liturgical year (Lent, and each Friday in memory of the death of the Lord) are intense moments of the Church’s penitential practice.”

• Here is what reading Sacred Scripture can do

• Here’s what the Eucharist and Penance can do

• Here’s what taking up one’s cross on a daily basis can do 

• It is ALL oriented towards MAKING OUR HEARTS MORE LIKE CHRIST

• THAT IS THE GOAL!!

• Yes, we can turn away from sin

• Yes, we can turn more fully toward the Lord

• BUT…

• THE GOAL IS GOD!!

• GOD IS ALWAYS THE GOAL!!

• HE HIMSELF!!

• BUT…

• The goal in our hearts is to have a heart like Jesus

• The goal in our hearts is to become like Christ

• That is the goal of conversion

• That is the goal of repentance

• That is the goal of holiness

• So let’s pray!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we praise you. We glorify your name. We thank you for not giving up on us. We thank you for constantly, constantly calling us to turn from sin, to turn towards your heart, towards your love, towards your mercy, towards your grace. Help us, Lord, each day to become more and more like you, to become more and more like your Son, Jesus Christ, who has a heart that hates sin, a heart that loves you, a heart that loves us. Jesus has a heart that loves the poor and those others forget. God, give us a heart like his. Help us. Help us to hate what he hates. Help us to love what he loves. And help us to become like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We make this prayer in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen”

• So there we have it!!

• This is a beautiful list of ways in which we can turn back to the Lord

• The list starts with the 3 forms of penance

• FASTING

• PRAYER

• ALMSGIVING

• They express conversion in relation to oneself, to God, and to others

• Think about this…

• FASTING is conversion related to myself and it means I am denying myself something that I want

• PRAYER is in relation to God because prayer is a conversation with God

• ALMSGIVING is in relationship to others

• It’s so simple

• It’s so straightforward

• IT IS SO POWERFUL!!

• Paragraph 1434 says, “Alongside the radical purification brought about by Baptism or martyrdom they cite as means of obtaining forgiveness of sins: efforts at reconciliation with one’s neighbor, tears of repentance, concern for the salvation of one’s neighbor, the intercession of the saints, and the practice of charity ‘which covers a multitude of sins.’”

• Not the affection of love

• THE ACTION OF LOVE

• Yes, love is affective because it is affection

• There is feeling and emotion behind love

• BUT…

• If love is going to do anything, it has to be EFFECTIVE

• We love affection because it feels good

• At the same time, the kind of love that CHANGES THE WORLD is EFFECTIVE

• The practice of charity is EFFECTIVE LOVE

• IT DOES SOMETHING!!

• Now for the list of ways in which we experience conversion

• INTERIOR CONVERSION

• THE RADICAL REORIENTATION OF OUR WHOLE LIFE

• Paragraph 1435 says, “Conversion is accomplished in daily life by gestures of reconciliation, concern for the poor, the exercise and defense of justice and right, by the admission of faults to one’s brethren, fraternal correction, revision of life, examination of conscience, spiritual direction, acceptance of suffering, endurance of persecution for the sake of righteousness. Taking up one’s cross each day and following Jesus is the surest way of penance.”

• They are not magic but they are the steps we NEED TO TAKE

• Think about it like this…

• You get healthy by starting to go for a walk

• You get healthy by moving your body

• Any way you move your body, you are going to become healthier in that body

• Similarly, with the soul, these are ways in which we engage in these spiritual practices

• These aspects of conversion are ways in which you can EXERCISE YOUR SOUL

• Why is taking up one’s cross the surest way of penance?

• Because it means to accept life as it comes to me

• If what comes to me today is the need to defend those who are victims of injustice…

• If what comes to me today is the poor who show up at my door…

• If what comes to me today is the need to admit my faults to my brethren…

• If what comes to me today is the need to correct my brethren…

• Whatever that acceptance of suffering, endurance of persecution, whatever comes to me today is my daily cross

• Accepting life as it is given to me by the Lord to bear with Him

• Accepting life as it is given to my by the Lord to carry with Him

• One of the reasons we carry crucifixes is to remind us of God’s love for us

• IT IS NOT KEEPING JESUS ON THE CROSS!!

• When we look at the Cross we know how much God loved us back then

• BUT…

• When we accept and carry our crosses, Jesus is not far from us

• IN FACT…

• HE IS VERY VERY VERY CLOSE TO US!!

• Taking up one’s cross each day is that acceptance of whatever the Lord allows into my life today and to carry that with Him

• Paragraph 1436 says, “Eucharist and Penance. Daily conversion and penance find their source and nourishment in the Eucharist…Through the Eucharist those who live from the life of Christ are fed and strengthened.”

• We can go to Mass every single day in many places in the world

• What does the Eucharist do?

• It heals venial sins and preserves us from mortal sins

• It gives us strength to continue to put our foot in front of the other

• If you can’t go to Daily Mass, there’s this thing called Sacred Scripture

• There’s this thing called the Bible

• There’s this thing called Liturgy of the Hours

• If you’ve never read the Bible, here is your invitation

• There’s this podcast out there that people can read the Bible to you and someone explains it to you a little bit (hmmmm….sounds familiar….. www.thebibleinayearstudyguide.com 😉)

• Also the Liturgy of the Hours which is the prayer of the Church

• They don’t take literally 60 minutes

• They are five moments of the day when you can stop and pray through the Scriptures, Psalms, and the prayers of the Church and sanctify each moment of the day 

• We talked about it before in Day 161!! (https://www.thecatechisminayearstudyguide.com/day-161) 

• If you can’t make it to Daily Mass, one great thing is simply to pray Morning Prayer or Evening Prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours

• Unite your prayer with the prayer of the whole Church

• One of the helpful things for us is that the Church gives us SEASONS OF PENANCE

• If penance was up to most of us, we would forget it

• Even when the Church gives us seasons of penance, it’s sometimes easy to forget

• One of the most regular and frequent days of penance is FRIDAY

• Every Friday throughout the ENTIRE YEAR is meant to be a day of some kind of penance

• The Church gives us the freedom to choose how it is that we want to observe that day, the day of our Lord’s Passion and death

• During Lent, we are called to abstain from meat on Fridays

• BUT…

• All throughout the year, every Friday is, for the Church, a day of penance, some kind of self-denial

• Whatever you think would help you the most to have a heart that’s converted more and more like Jesus

• Or some kind of good thing, an act of charity, or an act of prayer

• Every Friday can be a reminder for fasting, prayer, or almsgiving to be exercised in your life on a regular basis

• Paragraph 1439 says, “The process of conversion and repentance was described by Jesus in the parable of the prodigal son, the center of which is the merciful father: the fascination of illusory freedom, the abandonment of the father’s house; the extreme misery in which the son finds himself after squandering his fortune; his deep humiliation at finding himself obliged to feed swine, and still worse, at wanting to feed on the husks the pigs ate; his reflection on all he has lost; his repentance and decision to declare himself guilty before his father; the journey back; the father’s generous welcome; the father’s joy-all these are characteristic of the process of conversion…Only the heart of Christ who knows the depths of his Father’s love could reveal to us the abyss of his mercy in so simple and beautiful a way.”

• If you’ve been raised Christian, you know this parable of the prodigal son

• AND YET…

• Where do we get this parable?

• WE GET IT FROM JESUS HIMSELF!!

• Only Jesus, who knows the depths of his Father’s love could reveal to us the abyss of his mercy in so simple and beautiful a way

• Today is a funny day with these lists of how we can come back to the Lord

• BUT…

• The heart of it is COMING BACK TO THE LORD

• Yes we can do all these things that the Church invites us or asks us to do

• THEY ARE ALL REAL!!

• BUT…

• THE HEART OF IT IS TO COME BACK TO THE LORD!!

• COME BACK TO THE FATHER!!

• Even though we are pressing PLAY for 197 days, life still happens

• Hearts are still broken

• Hearts still wander away from the Lord

• You may find yourself on a day like today pressing PLAY and you had the worst day of your life

• Or the worst week

• Or the worst season

• BUT HERE YOU ARE!!

• Here is the voice of the Father who has not forgotten you

• Here is the voice of Jesus Christ who says you are worth His very death

• You are worth His very life

• Jesus pours out His Spirit on you right now on every one of us listening

• Jesus invites us to do what He has invited us to do all along: 

• COME BACK TO THE FATHER!!

• Allow the Father to clothe you once again in the finest robe

• Allow the Father to put that ring on your hand

• Allow the Father to put sandals on your feet

• ALLOW THE FATHER TO REJOICE OVER YOU!!

• BECAUSE THE FATHER REJOICES OVER YOU!!

• Whenever we come back to Him, whenever we turn from sin and turn back to the Lord, THE FATHER REJOICES OVER YOU!!

• He does that right now as we turn back to Him

• Fr. Mike is going to pray that on your worst day, you still turn back to Him

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!