Reflecting n Metanoia

[Akita Suggagaki]

Mark 1:15 “The time is fulfilled,” He said, “and the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe in the gospel!”

Repent "metanoiete”

How do we do that? 5 steps: Recognize, acknowledge, apologize, ask forgiveness, restitution

Recognize
And there are two errors we can make. 1) ignore our wrong doings. Quite often when we do wrong we rationalize, “What else could I do?” or minimize, “It really wasn’t that bad.” It is sometimes so easy for us to not recognize or fully acknowledge wrongs we have done. And the more we blow them off, the easier it becomes to ignore them and forget them. The first challenge is to recognize them for what they are. And yet there is also the danger of making too much of them, get scrupulous and fall into misplaced guilt.

Acknowledge publicly or at least to the person offended the wrong done. Without this we just carry guilt and it can be a heavy burden.

Apologize, saying , “I am sorry.” takes humility. But it is critical to an honest metanoia. It is not just about knowing and acknowledging but actually expressing sorrow for it.

Ask forgiveness. We put ourselves at the mercy of the other person. Often it is implied in the apology. "I am sorry." "Please forgive me."

Restitution or reparation, I might recognize that I offended you by denting your car, acknowledged to you that I have done so, apologized and asked forgiveness. But the dent is still there. I need to make it right.

Given these 5 steps of metanoia, where does the expiation of Jesus help us? When we offend each other we also offend God. Jesus makes us right with God but he doesn't fix the dent in the car. That is up to us, a form of penance maybe.

 

[Akita Suggagaki]

And I wonder how often we actually skip recognition in our sinfulness. That is specific sin recognition. Sure we all know we are sinners. we easily acknowledge that express sorrow and ask forgiveness. But how well do we identify the specific sins?

 

[Akita Suggagaki]

I recall also, Marley's ghost in Dickens's "A Christmas Carol".

Again the spectre raised a cry, and shook its chain and wrung its shadowy hands.

"You are fettered," said Scrooge, trembling. "Tell me why?"

"I wear the chain I forged in life," replied the Ghost. "I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. Is its pattern strange to you?"

Scrooge trembled, more and more.

"Or would you know," pursued the Ghost, "the weight and length of a strong coil you bear yourself? It was full as heavy and as long as this, seven Christmas Eves ago. You have laboured on it, since. It has a ponderous chain!"

Scrooge glanced about him on the floor, in the expectation of finding himself surrounded by some fifty or sixty fathoms of iron cable: but he could see nothing.


So sad that we often do nor recognize our sin nor it's effects on us. Kind of like smoking a cigarette, What harm could it do? But we now know what harm it does. On the other and, good deeds done in love. They have their effects as well.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

And I wonder how often we actually skip recognition in our sinfulness. That is specific sin recognition. Sure we all know we are sinners. we easily acknowledge that express sorrow and ask forgiveness. But how well do we identify the specific sins?

Sin exists within a person in the area prior to learning an earth language.

To discern a sin, it must be discerned in this childlike aspect of the mind and heart.

Sin recognition is important if we are to confess sins as they present themselves to be executed as an action.

 

[Akita Suggagaki]

In his Testament, St. Francis writes, “When I was in sin, the sight of lepers nauseated me beyond measure; but then God himself led me into their company, and I had pity on them. When I had once become acquainted with them, what had previously nauseated me became a source of physical consolation for me. After that I did not wait long before leaving the world.”

Sin blinds us to love and thus has a grip on us, keeps us in bondage. A change in Mind, change in heart leads to a change in person. But we first must be willing to reflect on our own thoughts and words and deeds.

Who among us even now would like to change our lives? Surrender all that binds us? Still "metanoiete” to be done.