Cathal Barry
The Church teaches that daily conversion and penance find their source and nourishment in the Eucharist, writes Cathal Barry
The Church teaches that Jesus’ call to conversion and penance, like that of the prophets before him, does not aim first at outward works, fasting and mortification, but at the conversion of the heart, interior conversion.
“Without this, such penances remain sterile and false; however, interior conversion urges expression in visible signs, gestures and works of penance,” according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Interior repentance, the Catechism states, “is a radical reorientation of our whole life, a return, 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. This conversion of heart is accompanied by a salutary pain and sadness which the Fathers called animi cruciatus (affliction of spirit) and compunctio cordis (repentance of heart).”
Teaching
The interior penance of the Christian can be expressed in many and various ways, according to the Catechism. The key teaching document of the Church states that Scripture and the Fathers insist above all on three forms, fasting, prayer and almsgiving, “which express conversion in relation to oneself, to God, and to others”.
Conversion, the document states, is accomplished in daily life by gestures of reconciliation, concern for the poor, the exercise and defence of justice and right, by the admission of faults to one’s brethren, fraternal correction, revision of life, examination of conscience, spiritual direction, acceptance of suffering and endurance of persecution for the sake of righteousness.
Nourishment
The Church teaches that daily conversion and penance “find their source and nourishment in the Eucharist, for in it is made present the sacrifice of Christ which has reconciled us with God”.
“Through the Eucharist those who live from the life of Christ are fed and strengthened,” the Catechism states.
Similarly important, according to Church teaching, is reading Sacred Scripture, praying the Liturgy of the Hours and the Our Father – every sincere act of worship or devotion revives the spirit of conversion and repentance within us and contributes to the forgiveness of our sins.
Ultimately, the Catechism states, the process of conversion and repentance was described by Jesus in the parable of the prodigal son, the centre of which is the “merciful” father.
The fascination of illusory freedom, the abandonment of the father’s house; the extreme misery in which the son finds himself after squandering his fortune; his deep humiliation at finding himself obliged to feed swine, and still worse, at wanting to feed on the husks the pigs ate; his reflection on all he has lost; his repentance and decision to declare himself guilty before his father; the journey back; the father’s generous welcome; the father’s joy – all these are characteristic of the process of conversion.
According to the Catechism, the beautiful robe, the ring, and the festive banquet are symbols of that new life – pure worthy, and joyful – of anyone who returns to God and to the bosom of his family, which is the Church.