It is even possible to produce for oneself – consciously or half-consciously – a kind of spiritual profit and loss account, in which regularity at the Eucharist is set off against the sins of one’s daily life so that one comes out on the right side in the end.  That was the attitude of the Pharisees and Sadducees who rejected John the Baptist’s call to repent.

A more general justification for refusing to repent is found in the idea that God does not bother about right or wrong or about holiness and sin; or if he does, he does not bother overmuch.  And so, as one need not worry about God, one need not worry about one’s sins either.  Here we have a clear example of that spiritual blindness which is one of the worst effects of sin on the soul – the utter failure to appreciate that stark fact, which burnt its way into John the Baptist’s innermost being, of God’s flaming holiness and the inevitability of his searching judgement on sinners.

For people’s sins are a dark shutter of their own making which effectively cuts them off from God, and if deliberately persisted in, from salvation also.  For it is God who offers us salvation and it is he who lays down the conditions for it; and those conditions are unalterably determined by his own scorching sanctity.  And the first of them is our repentance.  Without that there can be no relationship with him, no salvation and no Heaven.

For salvation is the union of one’s spirit with God in love; and Heaven is that union in its final and perfect state in his visible Presence.  And therefore both are rejected by those who refuse to renounce their sins and refuse to turn from them.  But when we turn to God in penitence and love, confessing our sins, “he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (Catholic edition RSV, 1 John 1:9).

An Advent prayer for repentance

Heavenly Father, as we prepare to celebrate the Birth of Our Saviour, help us to see the true state of our souls and not to shrink from facing up to the sins we have committed.  May we confess them all, sincerely sorry for having turned away from you and firmly resolving to try not to sin again.  Cleanse us from our sins, strengthen us in our weakness and stir our wills, that during this Advent and for the rest of our lives we may love you more dearly and serve you more faithfully, day by day.

“Then cleansed be every breast from sin;
make straight the way for God within,
prepare we in our hearts a home
where such a mighty Guest may come”. (2)

References

1. Daniel-Rops, H. (1955) Jesus in his time, London: Eyre and Spottiswoode.

2. Coffin, C. (1736) trans Chandler, J. (1837) On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry.  Available from:
http://www.oremus.org/hymnal/o/o752.html (Accessed 26 November 2011) (Internet).

Bibliography

Morton, H.V. (1934) In the steps of the Master, London: Rich & Cowan Ltd.