The word “Lent” comes from the Old English word meaning “spring.” Spring, as we know, is a season of new life and growth; therefore Lent is a time for growing in both the knowledge of our Christian faith and the living out of that Christian faith. To make concrete this growth experience, it is a custom in many parishes to have a series of sermons or lectures or other programs that help us develop a deeper relationship with the Church and with Christ. This Lent, as your spiritual shepherd, I wish to reflect on the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation, the Sacrament of Divine Mercy, popularly called Confession.

Penance is one of the seven sacraments: outward and visible signs in and through which we meet the invisible Christ who shares with us His life, divine grace. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines sacraments in these words: “… efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us” (n. 1131). In Penance, Christ meets us through external signs and gestures that indicate sorrow and forgiveness. After we have sinned, Christ invites us to be reconciled — to make us one again — with God His Father and with one another in the community of the Church. As the Catechism reminds us, “those who approach the Sacrament of Penance obtain pardon from God’s mercy for the offenses committed against him, and are, at the same time, reconciled with the Church which they have wounded by their sins and which by charity, by example, and by prayer labors for their conversion” (c. 1422). What a tremendous blessing!

And yet the Sacrament of Penance is so often misunderstood by both Catholics and non-Catholics. Nonetheless, it can be and indeed is a very meaningful sacrament and an integral part of Catholic Christian living. After all, the reality of this sacrament — reconciliation with the Lord — is very much in keeping with our deepest desires to be one with Christ Who died for us on Good Friday.

The Sacrament of Penance is like a jewel that sits in an old setting; it needs to be polished and reset so that its beauty can shine forth again. My prayer for each of us is that through our communal reflections on this very sacrament, our understanding of it will deepen, our appreciation will increase and our celebration of Penance will become a real and regular part of our Christian lives. Each week, for the next five weeks, we will look at different aspect of the Sacrament of Penance. Resources have also been made available on the diocesan Web site, www.arlingtondiocese.org. I hope that you will join me as we rediscover this sacrament of spiritual healing and forgiveness.

Before we actually begin to reflect on the various aspects of the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation, I invite us to consider the spirit or attitude of penance, what we call “interior penance.” This spirit or attitude enables us to understand more fully and to celebrate more fruitfully the Sacrament of Penance.

Interior penance means “a conversion to God with all our heart, an end of sin, a turning away from evil, with repugnance toward the evil actions we have committed. At the same time it entails the desire and resolution to change one's life, with hope in God's mercy and trust in the help of his grace.” (Catechism, n. 1431). Basically, we are called by Our Blessed Lord to a “metanoia,” a radical change of mind and heart, a complete “about face.” Is this not what we hear on Ash Wednesday as the ashes are imposed on our foreheads: “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel”?

Sin causes the human heart to become heavy and hardened. God in His Mercy towards us sinners desires to give us a new heart. In fact, He alone can. “Conversion is first of all a work of God who makes our hearts return to Him: ‘Restore us to thyself, O Lord, that we may be restored!’ God gives us the strength to begin anew” (Catechism, n. 1432).

Notice that Jesus began His public ministry precisely with a call to conversion: “This is the time of Fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15). This call to repent and be converted is being emphatically addressed to us once again by the season of Lent. We fervently ask God to give us a new heart because with a new heart, we can, in fact, respond to His call to come back home, as did the Prodigal Son (cf. Luke 15:11-32).

Therefore, the spirit or attitude of penance leads us to turn back to the Lord and to the Church, to change direction (“about face”) and to do acts of penance. Interior penance becomes visible through exterior penance. These exterior actions are varied: fasting; abstaining from meat; other forms of self-denial, like giving up sweets, lengthy TV watching, alcohol; forms of positive outreach, like visiting the elderly, writing notes of encouragement, making time to listen; days of penance, like the Fridays of Lent; and almsgiving.

This spirit or attitude of penance is an essential aspect of our Catholic living. Yes, the Fourth Precept of the Church is still in force: “You shall observe days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church.” The minimum is fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday by those between the ages of 18 through 59 and refraining from eating meat on Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent for everyone above 14 years of age. But, we must go beyond this minimum and find tangible ways for us to do penance in a personal way. The question is: “What is my way of doing penance beyond the minimum which the Church requires?”

This spirit or attitude of interior penance made visible by exterior acts of penance truly prepares us to understand more fully and to celebrate more fruitfully the Sacrament of Penance or Reconciliation. This, then, shall be our focus in the succeeding weeks of Lent.