Calls to penance in the Bible

We have only to open the Bible to see that it was never God's will to reveal Himself in any solemn encounter with mortal men without first calling them to prayer and penance. Indeed, Moses refused to give the Hebrews the tables of the Law until they had expiated their crime of idolatry and ingratitude (Cf. Ex 32:6-35).

The Prophets, too, always exhorted the Israelites to make their prayers acceptable to God by offering them in a penitential spirit. Otherwise, the Israelites would bring about their own exclusion from the plan of divine Providence.

The Prophet Joel gave one of the most deeply impressive of these prophetic utterances: "Now therefore, says the Lord, Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting and in weeping and in mourning ... Between the porch and the altar the priests, the Lord's ministers, shall weep and say: Spare, O Lord, spare thy people, and give not thy inheritance to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them" (Joel 2.12-13, 17).

The calls to penance did not end when the Son of God became incarnate. On the contrary, they became even more insistent. At the very outset of his preaching, John the Baptist proclaimed: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Mt 3:2).

Jesus inaugurated His saving mission in the same way. He did not begin by revealing the principal truths of the faith. First He insisted that the soul must repent of every trace of sin that could render it impervious to the message of eternal salvation: "From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'" (Mt 4:17).

The Apostles held undeviatingly to the principles of their divine Master. When the Holy Spirit had descended on them in the form of fiery tongues, Peter expressed his invitation to the multitudes to seek rebirth in Christ and to accept the gifts of the most holy Paraclete in these words: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38).

- Edited from Paenitentiam Agere, the Encyclical of Pope John XXIII, on the need for the practice of interior and exterior penance, July 1, 1962

If we want God to speak to us, to be with us, we must first respond to His call to repentance. Pope John XXIII also said in the same encyclical: "Indeed, penance is that counterforce which keeps the forces of concupiscence in check and repels them" (n.10).

Think about the thing or things in your life that you need to repent of. As you pray tonight, make a firm resolution to turn away from whatever holds you back. Not just during Lent, but also after it.

What do you think?