<\/div>\n
[Homily for the 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C]<\/p>\n
I once heard a story about a young woman who died and was received at the gates of heaven. \u00a0She had not been very good in this life, but Saint Peter decided to give her another chance. \u00a0He said to her:<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll allow you into heaven under one condition. \u00a0You must return to earth and bring back the one thing God values above all other things.\u201d \u00a0The woman accepted the challenge.<\/p>\n
The young woman returned to the earth. \u00a0She thought and thought about what one thing God values above all others.<\/p>\n
One day she came upon a young man who had just been killed for his faith, a martyr. \u00a0\u201cAh, she thought, here it is.\u201d \u00a0She took out a handkerchief and soaked up a bit of blood. \u00a0\u201cThis must be what God values the most, the blood of a martyr.\u201d<\/p>\n
She went back to heaven, but when she presented it, Saint Peter said: There is something God values even more.<\/p>\n
She returned again to the earth and continued to think hard. \u00a0One day she came upon a young missionary preaching God\u2019s word to the poor. \u00a0\u201cAh, she thought, here it is.\u201d \u00a0She took out a handkerchief and soaked up a bit of the sweat. \u00a0\u201cThis must be what God values the most, the sweat of a missionary.\u201d<\/p>\n
She went back to heaven, but when she presented it, Saint Peter said: There is something God values even more.<\/p>\n
This continued for some time, she was running out of ideas.<\/p>\n
One day she came upon a group of children playing at a park, laughing and free. \u00a0They had no worries or anxieties. \u00a0They were pure and innocent. \u00a0At that moment she saw a rough looking man approach the park. \u00a0He stopped and sat down at a bench by a fountain, he began to look over at the children. \u00a0He saw their joy, their youth and their innocence. \u00a0He then looked at his reflection on the fountain and saw his face: sad, old, ugly and hardened. \u00a0His heart was moved. \u00a0He realized how far he had drifted from God, he was sorry, and he longed for the freedom, peace and innocence of the children. \u00a0He began to cry. <\/p>\n
At that moment of repentance, the young woman approached him. \u00a0She took out a handkerchief and soaked up a tear. \u00a0She went back to heaven and when she presented it, Saint Peter said bursting with joy: There is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.\u201d \u00a0She was allowed into heaven.<\/p>\n
\u201cO God, be merciful to me a sinner.\u201d \u00a0This is the beautiful prayer of the tax collector, one of true repentance. \u00a0Perhaps the hardened man prayed this same prayer looking at his reflection on the fountain.<\/p>\n
Once a person who had been away from the church for a long time said to me she was considering coming back, what did she have to do?<\/p>\n
\u201cGo to confession,\u201d I said. \u00a0\u201cYou\u2019re only a good confession away.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s too easy Father,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s that easy\u201d I said to her. \u00a0\u201cGod desperately wants to forgive you. \u00a0If you repent, God will embrace you.\u201d
At times it\u2019s difficult for us to repent because we think we will not be forgiven. \u00a0We deem an aspect of our lives unredeemable and we store it away in the corner, in the darkness. <\/p>\n
Other times it\u2019s difficult to repent because though we recognize we are committing a sin, it\u2019s hard to change our behavior. \u00a0It\u2019s hard to repent because we know it will happen again. \u00a0When in this situation, we can approach the Lord with a desire to be sorry, or a desire to desire to be sorry. \u00a0We must not get discouraged, remember what Pope Francis said during his first days as Pope, \u201cGod never tires to forgive us, it is us who get tired of asking for forgiveness.\u201d <\/p>\n
If you grow discouraged because you repent over the same things constantly, be grateful you are at least not adding new sins to your list.<\/p>\n
Saint John Chrysostom called Jesus the \u201cLover of mankind.\u201d \u00a0He is in love with us, and love conquers all things, even our sins. \u00a0His love is greater than our sins. \u00a0What a beautiful image: Jesus is the Lover of Mankind. \u00a0The merciful, faithful lover who awaits our return to him. <\/p>\n
Today, we lift up our repentant hearts to Christ. \u00a0Hearts that long for the their lover\u2019s love, their lover who comes to be among us and dwell within us. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[Homily for the 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C] I once heard a story about a young woman who died and was received at the gates of heaven. \u00a0She had not been very good in this life, but Saint Peter decided to give her another chance. \u00a0He said to her: \u201cI\u2019ll allow you into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2533,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Tears of Repentance<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I once heard a story about a young woman who died and was received at the gates of heaven. She had not been very good in this life, but Saint Peter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/10\/tears-of-repentance.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tears of Repentance\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I once heard a story about a young woman who died and was received at the gates of heaven. 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