Truly Repent this Advent Season

John the Baptist had a grim message for the Pharisees and Sadducees who came to receive his baptism:

“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’”

Why is the Baptist so harsh with these leaders? Is it not enough that they are coming to receive his baptism like everyone else?

Indeed, they are coming to receive his baptism, but they are receiving it as a cloak to cover their sins. They have no intention to face their inner wretchedness and truly repent. The external ritual of baptism has become, in their eyes, a way to distract them from the inner decadence in their hearts.

It is also important for us Catholics to be careful lest we too approach the sacraments as a way to avoid the deep conversion of heart that the Lord demands from us. We too can attend many Masses, say many prayers, and receive the sacrament of Reconciliation while holding onto our sins and sinful tendencies. We can use these sacramental rites as a way of feeling good about ourselves without allowing God to actually transform our hearts from within.

The season of Advent calls us to face our unrepented sins with courage for many reasons:

Unrepented sins cause us to lose our desire for God and the things of God.

The Pharisees and Sadducees cannot recognize and receive the Savior because they are reluctant to face and repent from their sins. They will eventually reject Jesus because of their obstinacy:

“All the people who listened, including the tax collectors, and who were baptized with the baptism of John, acknowledged the righteousness of God; but the Pharisees and the scholars of the law, who were not baptized by him, rejected the plan of God for themselves.” (Lk. 7:29-30)

God always loves us, even in our sinfulness. However, our failure or refusal to repent of our sins puts a barrier between God and us. This prevents us from fully experiencing the love that God offers to us. We also find ourselves struggling to desire and receive these things He offers.

Because of this lack of repentance, our waiting for the birth of the Savior is in vain. We claim to be waiting for the Savior, but our waiting is only words on our lips. How can we be waiting for a Savior that we do not know, love, and desire as we should?

Unrepented sins make us selfish and self-reliant.

The Jewish leaders had become so concerned with their own ritual purity while disregarding others whom they considered inferior to them. They had an air of spiritual superiority over others, and they always sought to emphasize their superiority at any opportunity. This explains the great contrast between them and the common folks who approached to receive baptism with truly repentant hearts.

When we too give in to selfishness and self-reliance, we cannot trust in Jesus and His saving grace in our lives. We will trust more in our abilities, expertise, past successes, or even our good reputation. We just cannot depend on God as we should.

Unrepented sins make us worldly in our thinking and desiring.

Jesus once castigated the Pharisees for their vanity and worldly motives, saying, “All their works are performed to be seen. They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. They love the places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation, ‘Rabbi’” (Mt. 23:5-7).

The more that we hold to our sins without deep repentance, the more susceptible we are to the spirit of the world and less docile to the Spirit of God. The Baptist teaches that Jesus brings a Spirit that enflames and purifies us for holiness and fidelity to Him: “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” Unrepented sin will make us so tied to the world that we will resist the impulses of the Spirit in our lives.

St. John the Baptist also tells us why this season of Advent is particularly appropriate for true repentance: “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” This is a season of love and powerful graces for our true repentance in preparation for the coming of our Savior.

This is also a season of divine light wherein the Lord sheds His light into our hearts so that we can really see ourselves the way that God sees us. Only God can show us the presence and devastating consequences of our sinful choices in our lives and how we are to address them: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Ps. 139:23-24).

It is not enough for us to examine our consciences to figure out our sins. We must also beg God intensely for the divine revelation and the grace to grasp the magnitude of our sins, our many sinful tendencies, and the power of His undying love for us.

St. Ignatius of Loyola teaches us to beg insistently for three specific graces from our Mother Mary, our Lord Jesus Christ, and our Loving Father.

1. Let us beg for a deep knowledge of our sins and a feeling of abhorrence for them.
2. Let us beg for an understanding of the disorder of our actions, that, filled with horror for them, we may amend our lives and put them in order.
3. Let us beg for a knowledge of the world, that, filled with horror, we may put away from us all that is worldly and vain.

Let us sincerely and confidently pray for these graces so that repentance from our sins is deep and authentic.

This is how our waiting for Jesus this Christmas will not be in vain.

Glory to Jesus!!! Honor to Mary!!!

Photo by Josh Applegate on Unsplash