Why is repentance so highly valued in the scriptures? Repentance is so highly valued because without it, you cannot live a good life, you cannot move forward in life with a pure heart and a clean conscience. Everyone needs to repent of sin, of wrongdoing. The first words of Jesus to those he called to follow him were: “Repent and believe in the Good News,” ( Mark 1 : 15 ). Repentance comes first. It is the conditio sine qua non, the indispensable condition without which you cannot live a good life or experience the Good News. Repentance, for the Christian, means turning away from a life of sin and compromise with the world to follow Christ ( Romans 12 : 2 ). It does not mean feeling bad or shameful about yourself. The Greek word for repentance in the New Testament is, metanoia, which means thinking differently about yourself. It means to be convinced of another way, to change your mind as well as your convictions from going your way to going God’s way. This is how saints like Paul and Augustine viewed repentance. They saw it as liberation from a former way of life to embrace the unconditional love of God.

I like to think of repentance, positively, as responding to God’s love by being transformed in your convictions and actions. God is love. He has chosen you, and he wants to shower you with his love. His son came on earth to manifest this love to you, in the flesh. The opposite is to “harden your heart,” to be “stiff necked,” to be stubborn or recalcitrant about receiving the gift God is offering you.

St John the Baptist spoke about repentance to a “stiff necked” people in his day, and he paid for it with his life. We read about John the Baptist in the gospel for the Second Sunday of Advent, and how he tried to get people to repent. It is still a problem now as then. Learning to repent is an on-going process because no one is perfect, and life is not static. As long as we live, there will always be opportunities to repent. We will always be prone to make mistakes, but as long as we can learn from them, and change our ways, there is hope. Repentance frees up hope. It is not for the weak, but for the strong.

Following are a few things you can do to cultivate a regular pattern of repentance this Advent:

1. Meditate on the Scriptures, the word of God. The Lord says if you seek his kingdom first, “everything else will be granted to you.” He will show you how to live in a way pleasing to him.
   
2. Pray to the Holy Spirit for a true spirit of repentance which strengthens your convictions. If the words of scripture abide in you and you ask for repentance in prayer, it will be granted.
   
3. Give thanks for God’s Mercy which leads to repentance. Shame is debilitating, and will keep you from true conviction. When God calls you to repentance, he is challenging you to taste and see that he is good ( Psalm 34 : 8 ).
   
4. Compliment others for their goodness, and never fail to thank them for supporting you or helping you in any way with your burdens in life. We sin, not only by commission, but also by omission. Always be thankful to those you depend on for so much.

The call to repentance is not a call to shame. It is a call to examine your direction in life and orient yourself towards the Good News of the gospel. In the end, it is the Holy Spirit who brings about true conviction and repentance for only the Holy Spirit can “produce fruit worthy of repentance” ( Matthew 3 : 8 ).

—Fr. Hugh Duffy