The one thing I must do, that I am compelled to do, is to repent. Repentance is understood by some as an act of humiliation, but what our egoism perceives as humiliation is actually liberation. We caricature repentance as humiliation because we are afraid of leaving behind the life we have created out of our own self striving and self interest.
Repentance is the proper response to God’s mercy, (which is the form God’s love takes when it is received by a sinner). God’s mercy engenders a response and if our response is acceptance, then our acceptance takes the form of repentance. Repentance is manifested in willingness to change one’s mind, one’s attitude, one’s behaviors-one’s way of life.
For the disciple of the Lord Jesus this means rejecting a self-centered life and accepting a Christ-centered life-the Christ-centered life is a way of faith, hope and love. Turning towards God necessitates a turning away from all that is opposed to him. Repentance necessitates deliberating choosing God’s way, rather than my own way.
The experience of God’s mercy never leaves us the same or merely affirms us as we are. Personal transformation always precedes and is the condition for the possibility for cultural transformation. The experience of God’s mercy is a summons to repentance, which is always followed by a summons to mission.
The great follow up to the Year of Mercy, it seems to me, is a year of repentance. It is only through repentance that we can move forward in mission.
Source: Father Steve Grunow - Father Steve Grunow, CEO, Word on Fire, As quoted by Kathryn Jean Lopez, Crux, 13 Nov 2016, https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2016/11/13/mercy-can-help-america-heal-bitter-political-season/