five ways to repent

St John Chrysostom talks to us today about repentance in A Year with the Church Fathers. And I have to admit, the title of the talk grabbed my attention. "Five ways to repent" is what it's called, and I'd never heard of five ways to repent. So I perked up and read with great interest.

He says that way number one is to awaken our conscience and condemn our own sins. It reminds me of a story from "The Story of a Soul", the autobiography of Therese of Lisieux. When she was a little girl, she would always tell on herself if she did anything wrong. One time she accidentally tore the wallpaper, and as soon as her father came home she ran to him and told him what she'd done. She said she figured that he would be more lenient and forgiving if she condemned herself. And St John seems to agree. He quotes Isaiah 42:26 "Declare your sins, that you may be justified." He also says, "Wake up your conscience, that interior prosecutor, so that you may have no prosecutor at the judgment seat of the Lord." Interesting thoughts.

The second way he says is to forgive our enemies. According to the Lord's prayer, we are forgiven in the same way that we forgive. So forgiving our enemies is a second form of repentance.

Third, he says, is praying without ceasing. If we are pouring our hearts out in prayer, we are likened to the widow who gets justice by being persistent.

Fourth, St John says giving to the poor is a form of repentance. We repent of our inherent greed and selfishness when we practice giving to the poor. And I like to note that he does NOT say giving to the church (i.e. giving to him), but rather taking care of the poor, which is in fact taking care of Jesus.

Fifth, and finally, St John says that through modesty and humility, we empty ourselves of the pride that so easily brings us down into other sins. Pride, the chief of all sins, is broken by the practice of humility.

And he sums up by saying that we should, in fact, practice all five of them every day. If you find yourself lacking one or the other, just pray and ask Him to help you to increase in that virtue. He'll help you.

God, thanks for teaching us how to repent, so that we can come closer to You.