When my mother died, I was given a book entitled, Why Bad Things Happen to Good People by Harold Kushner, a Jewish rabbi. One thing I learned from that book is that life is full of consequences. What happens to us can be a consequence of the choices we make and others make. My mother made poor health choices like smoking that led to a fatal heart attack at the young age of 65.
In Biblical times, people blamed tragic deaths on sin but Jesus criticizes this mindset: tragic death, illness or other misfortunes is not the result of sin. Sin, however, is always a choice we make, which result in consequences that we later regret. Thus, Jesus is quick to caution his listeners, “I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” I’m sure he was not just talking about what would happen to us after our death. If we stay mired in our selfishness, we will be dying even while we live. We will find ourselves doing the same old thing, dying a bit more each day, choosing to live lives that don’t reach out with fruit to anyone else.
On Ash Wednesday, we were urged, “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” So what does repent mean? The dictionary in my office offers the following definitions: “to feel remorse, contrition, or self remorse for what one has done or failed to do; to feel such regret for past conduct as to change one’s mind regarding it; to make a change for the better as a result of remorse or contrition for one’s sins.”
Once he uttered the warning to repent a second time, Jesus then shared the parable of the fig tree. In a nutshell, this tree was to be cut down if it didn’t produce fruit within a year. Are we allowing Jesus to cultivate us now so that we will bear fruit?
The urgent message of Lent is to repent or perish; bear fruit or be cut down. Repentance involves turning away from our sinfulness towards God’s transforming mercy; letting go of the narrowness of our own perception of how life should be lived, and embracing instead God’s plan for salvation.
Most of us are innocent of grave sins like murder, apostasy, or adultery, yet we are still sinners. Sometimes it is not so apparent to us that we must repent. We are sort of stuck; like the fig tree that is alive but not bearing fruit. Think of what we confess moments ago while saying the Confiteor. “In what I have done and what I have failed to do…” In another words, repentance is not only about what wrong we have done but also what good we have failed to do. How often have we passed up the chance to produce fruit, that is, to do good?
Bad habits or sinful choices that enslave us jeopardize our relationships with God and others. Consider the seven deadly sins. Can you name them? (Anger, pride, sloth, envy, lust, gluttony, and greed.) Which ones do you relate to? Any one of them if left unchecked can destroy our relationships and our lives. If we let them color the choices we make, we realize sooner or later that they are not life giving; in fact, they can literally be fatal. No wonder Jesus cautioned, “If you do not repent, you will perish as they did!”
What choices do you make that prevent you from doing good? Is it the verbal or physical abuse you shell out to others? Is it the attitude that only you are right? Is it shirking what is asked of you? Is it the resentment you feel toward someone for what that person has? Is it an addiction to pornography? Is it eating enough at a meal to feed a starving family in Africa? Is it the craving desire to own one more thing? Can you see how they stop you from doing good to others and bearing fruit?
Repentance should be seen as a change of attitude, not as a solitary act for a single sin. It characterizes Christian living as much as loving and caring for others does. Repentance is about choosing life while sin is about selfishness, broken relationships, and disregard for the value of life. Unless we repent, we cannot bear the fruit of right relationships with God, self and others.
The challenge of Lent is to allow ourselves to be “cultivated and fertilized” by Jesus so that we can begin to bear more fruit. Reading the Gospels can give you insights as to where you need to prune your sins. They provide the measure against which we can examine our daily living. Another way is to pay attention to the people around us; they can reflect back to us behaviors that we need to change as well as draw us to act with charity and graciousness toward others.
Perfectly good people can slowly sink into a life of pettiness and selfishness. Lent’s intent is to change our way of living. Prayer, fasting and almsgiving are the means for doing so, but the goal of this season is learning to see the world as God sees it, withdrawing from the relentless narcotics of consumption and greed, of a me-first mindset and simply becoming a good, loving human being, that is, a saint. Lent is about transforming ourselves so that kindness and charity become second nature to us.
Admittedly, transformation is a slow, quiet, affair that usually takes place as a result of repeated small moments. Unlike St. Paul, we aren’t likely to have a profound one-moment conversion experience that abruptly changes our outlook on life. Rather, transformation for us is a result of little acts of kindness, prayer, and moments of compassion. Do that and you will bear much fruit, becoming merciful like the Father.