“Come back to the Lord with all your heart; leave the past in ashes, and turn to God with tears and fasting, for he is slow to anger and ready to forgive.”[1] This antiphon, which may be sung during the distribution of ashes on Ash Wednesday, encapsulates well the central message of the liturgical season of Lent, repentance for one’s sins, and the disposition God has toward those who have sorrow for their transgressions – mercy and forgiveness.
True repentance is defined in paragraph 1431 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
Interior repentance is a radical reorientation of our whole life, a return, a conversion to God with all our heart, an end of sin, a turning away from evil, with repugnance toward the evil actions we have committed. At the same time, it entails the desire and resolution to change one’s life, with hope in God’s mercy and trust in the help of his grace. This conversion of heart is accompanied by a salutary pain and sadness which the Fathers called animi cruciatus (affliction of spirit) and compunctio cordis (repentance of heart) [cf. Council of Trent (1551): DS 1676-1678; 1705; cf. Roman Catechism, II, V, 4].[2]
A radical reorientation of one’s whole life, must have at its core – the desire and resolution to change. To recognize and renounce one’s sins, trusting always in the mercy of God, with full confidence in the assistance of His grace.
Thus, the Lenten season is an essential 40-day period of prayer, reflection, and preparation, through which, one comes to recognize the many ways one has offended God through sin. The realization, that one has failed in love, and the knowledge, that one must confess these failings in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The God given wisdom, that one must renounce and repent of sin, to enter the presence of the Lord. And, after one has sought out the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and confessed one’s sins to a priest, with compunctio cordis (repentance of heart), one receives the gift of absolution, (the Lord’s forgiveness of one’s sins). One is given healing and transformative grace, is strengthened to make amends for one’s offenses, and is enabled to avoid these same sins in the future. In other words, radically reorient oneself away from sin, turning one’s heart back to God, and trusting in His never-ending mercy and forgiveness.
This directive, is recounted during the Sacred Mass on Ash Wednesday, as the Prophet Joel calls the people to rend their hearts, recognize their own sinfulness, turn away from sin, and reorient their hearts back to God – that they receive the Lord’s blessing. To ascertain, the true state of one’s soul, making the firm choice to repent, that one not perish, but instead, be granted life in the Spirit: “For gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment.”[3]
The prophet Joel goes on to express his confidence, that if the people approach the Lord in this way, the Lord will be gracious and merciful, slow to anger and rich in kindness. The Lord will spare His children, and take pity on them, if they only turn from their error. Yet, if one persists in his or her error, the Lord will allow a chastisement, not out of vengeance, but rather, out of love, as it states in the letter to the Hebrews: “For the Lord disciplines him whom he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”[4]
During Year C, on the Fourth Sunday of Lent, we know that St. Paul exhorts the Corinthians to repentance:
We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”[5] Through the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, we who are sinners are made righteous through the power of His grace. St. Paul appeals to the Corinthians not to receive the grace of God in vain, and not to wait to repent, instead, he implores them to act immediately: “Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.[6]
One should never fear, nor delay, in approaching the Lord for the forgiveness of one’s sins – because His mercy endures forever for those who repent:
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. ‘Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.’”[7]
St. Maximus of Turin affirms this teaching in Sermon 35:
Hence, I also testify to you that these are the days of redemption, that this is the time, as it were, of heavenly medicine, when we shall be able to heal every stain of our vices and all the wounds of our sins if we faithfully implore the physician of our souls and do not, as people scarcely worthy of the undertaking, despise His precepts. For a person wearied of his illness has found healing when he very carefully observes his doctor’s orders; but if he does one thing when another is ordered, then the transgressor and not the physician is guilty if the sickness is aggravated. But the physician is the Lord Jesus Christ, who says: I will kill and I will give life (cf. Deut. 32:39, cf. “The Concept of ‘Christus medicus’ in St. Augustine,” Traditio 10 (1954) 1–28; DS 10.891–901). For the Lord kills—in a certain manner—before He gives life. First, by baptism He kills in us murders, adulteries, crimes, and robberies, and with that, by the immortality of eternity, He gives life to us who are like new persons. For we die to our sins through the bath, but we are reborn to life through the Spirit, as the holy Apostle says: For you have died to your sins, and your life is hidden with Christ (cf. Col 3:3).[8]
Here, one should note, when St. Maximus uses the phrase, these are the days of redemption, he is clearly referring to the time one is allotted in this life, to seek out and implore the physician of our souls for His heavenly medicine. That, one’s time in this life is short, and should not be wasted. Rather, the person wearied of his illness, must find healing in God’s grace, searching out the physician of our souls – choosing to follow His loving guidance.
In pursuit of this repentance of heart, the practice of fasting is integral to interior conversion. St. John Chrysostom exhorts the faithful, concerning the practice of fasting:
I speak not, indeed, of such a fast as most persons keep, but of real fasting; not merely an abstinence from meats; but from sins too. For the nature of a fast is such, that it does not suffice to deliver those who practice it, unless it be done according to a suitable law. “For the wrestler,” it is said, “is not crowned unless he strive lawfully” (cf. 2 Tim 2:5). To the end then, that when we have gone through the labor of fasting, we forfeit not the crown of fasting, we should understand how, and after what manner, it is necessary to conduct this business; since that Pharisee also fasted (cf. Luk 18:12), but afterwards went down empty, and destitute of the fruit of fasting. The Publican fasted not; and yet he was accepted in preference to him who had fasted; in order that you may learn that fasting is unprofitable, except all other duties follow with it. The Ninevites fasted, and won the favor of God (cf. Jon 3:10).
The Jews, fasted too, and profited nothing, nay, they departed with blame. Since then the danger in fasting is so great to those who do not know how they ought to fast, we should learn the laws of this exercise, in order that we may not “run uncertainly,” nor “beat the air,” nor while we are fighting contend with a shadow. Fasting is a medicine; but a medicine, though it be never so profitable, becomes frequently useless owing to the unskillfulness of him who employs it. For it is necessary to know, moreover, the time when it should be applied, and the requisite quantity of it; and the temperament of body that admits it; and the nature of the country, and the season of the year; and the corresponding diet; as well as various other particulars; any of which, if one overlooks, he will mar all the rest that have been named. Now if, when the body needs healing, such exactness is required on our part, much more ought we, when our care is about the soul, and we seek to heal the distempers of the mind, to look, and to search into every particular with the utmost accuracy.[9]
I have said these things, not that we may disparage fasting, but that we may honor fasting; for the honor of fasting consists not in abstinence from food, but in withdrawing from sinful practices; since he who limits his fasting only to an abstinence from meats, is one who especially disparages it. Do you fast? Give me proof of it by your works! Is it said by what kind of works? If you see a poor man, take pity on him! If you see an enemy, be reconciled to him! If you see a friend gaining honor, envy him not! If you see a handsome woman, pass her by! For let not the mouth only fast, but also the eye, and the ear, and the feet, and the hands, and all the members of our bodies.[10]
Here one can see, proper fasting is undertaken out of love for God and neighbor, it should assist one in the act of repentance, and should move one to give alms. It should lead one to focus upon the needs of others, those physical, material, and spiritual. St. Antony the Great, encapsulates this in the following statement:
Here we learn that love is above fasting, that we must not presume to put our fasting above ‘the more excellent way,’ the ‘new commandment’ to love one another.[11]
In the same manner, almsgiving may be accomplished a charitable act. St. John of Kronstadt stresses, that in giving alms – one should give with a pure heart:
Almsgiving is good and salutary when to it is united the amendment of the heart from pride, malice, envy, slothfulness, indolence, gluttony, fornication, falsehood, deceitfulness, and other sins. But if the man is not careful to amend his heart, trusting only to his alms, then he will obtain but little benefit from them, for he builds with one hand and destroys with the other.[12]
Ultimately, through a repentant heart – one should glean this wisdom – that one must keep the Commandment to Love, and follow in the footsteps of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ: “For if he knows himself to be poor (and the poor are called blessed in the Gospel), he strives to understand the important things in life, and he walks the straight and narrow way which leads to life. He is poor in wickedness, and he knows where Christ, who is our life, is to be found.”[13]
[1] Catholic Church, and International Commission on English in the Liturgy. 1989. Book of Blessings : Approved for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and Confirmed by the Apostolic See. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press., p. 481.
[2] Catholic Church. Catechism of the Catholic Church: Revised in Accordance with the Official Latin Text Promulgated by Pope John Paul II, 2nd ed. (Vatican City; Washington, DC: Libreria Editrice Vaticana; United States Catholic Conference, 1997), 1431.
[3] Confraternity of Christian Doctrine Board of Trustees, Catholic Church National Conference of Catholic Bishops Administrative Committee, United States Catholic Conference Administrative Board, and Fireside Catholic Publishing. 2007. The New American Bible. Personal Study ed. Wichita, Kan.: Fireside Catholic Pub., Joe 2:13., (Hereafter cited as NAB).
[4] Catholic Biblical Association (Great Britain). The Holy Bible : Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, Translated from the Original Tongues, Being the Version Set Forth A.D. 1611, Old and New Testaments Revised A.D. 1881-1885 and A.D. 1901 (Apocrypha Revised A.D. 1894), Compared with the Most Ancient Authorities and Revised A.D. 1952 (Apocrypha Revised A.D. 1957). Catholic ed. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1994., Heb 12:6., (Hereafter cited as RSV).
[5] NAB., 2 Cor 5:20-21.
[6] RSV., 2 Cor 6:2.
[7] Ibid., Isa 1:16-18.
[8] Maximus, and Boniface Ramsey. 1989. The Sermons of St. Maximus of Turin. New York, N.Y.: Newman Press., pg. 83-84.
[9] newadvent.org, “Saint John Chrystostom’s Homily 3 on the Statutes,” para. 8, accessed March 3, 2025, https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/190103.htm
[10] Ibid., para. 11.
[11] saintandrewfw.org, “Sayings of the Church Fathers on Fasting,” para. 5, accessed March 3, 2025, https://saintandrewfw.org/the-church-fathers-on-fasting/
[12] aleteia.org, “Almsgiving is not an investment strategy,” quote by St. John Kronstadt, accessed March 3, 2025, https://aleteia.org/2019/03/27/almsgiving-is-not-an-investment-strategy
[13] Catholic Church and Franciscans. 1975 1976. The Divine Office : The Liturgy of the Hours According to the Roman Rite : As Renewed by Decree of the Second Vatican Council and Promulgated by the Authority of Pope Paul. Volume III. New York: Catholic Book Pub., pg. 243.
