Homily Third Sunday of Easter April 13, 2024 St Austin Church, TX

 Homily   Third Sunday of Easter   April 13, 2024   St Austin Church, TX

 We have another post-resurrection appearance of the Risen Lord in our Gospel today.   But I’d rather talk about the ever popular topic of GUILT.   Anyone here ever feel guilty?   Good, because I am going to preach about GUILT.   I am against it. 

          At the conclusion of today’s Gospel we heard: “Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.  And he said to them,
“Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer
and rise from the dead on the third day
and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins,
would be preached in his name
to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”

          Notice that what is being preached to all nations is “repentance”.  Repentance is different than guilt.  Nowhere in the Gospels does the Lord urge us to feel guilt.  Rather, Jesus calls us to repentance.

          At the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, in chapter 1 of the Gospel of St Mark, Jesus’ preaching is succinctly summed up as: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

          Likewise, in the first reading today we hear St Peter preach.  He culminates his sermon with “Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away.”

          The New Testament preaching is a call to REPENTANCE.

          What is the difference between feeling guilty and repentance?  They are very different.  Guilt is a feeling.  It is an emotion.  It is a hard and difficult emotion.  But that is not the worst part of guilt. 

Guilt keeps us focused on the past, on our failures, on how we screwed up.  And guilt keeps us beating ourselves up for how we made a mess of our lives and other’s lives. 

          But guilt does not help.  It does not, by itself, help us to do better.  It does not move us forward, but rather keeps us focused on the past.  Guilt looks backwards.

          Repentance, on the other hand, is very different.  Repentance is about change.  About movement in a new direction.  It is action.  It looks

forward.  Repentance is movement towards growth.  Repentance is openness to new life.  As St Peter proclaims in our first reading, “Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away.”      Repentance is about growth and life.

          In our second reading today from the first Letter of Saint John we heard: “But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one.  He is expiation for our sins,
and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world.”

          Forgiveness is available to us.  But it requires a change of heart and it requires work.  That is what repentance is.  Repentance does include feelings of remorse, but it does not stop with the feelings.  The feelings are only the first step, or even only the prelude to repentance.  Genuine repentance involves action, involves change, and especially involves growth. 

          Growth usually does not happen instantly.  Growth takes time.  It takes effort.  It takes patience.  All these are involved in repentance.

           So, if you are burdened by guilt, recognize it, but do not dwell on it.  Rather hear the feelings of guilt as a call to repentance, to action and to growth.  Guilt looks back, but repentance looks forward, to a new and better way of thinking, of feeling, of acting, of being.  Let go of guilt to replace it with repentance, with a firm purpose of amendment, with action to repair as much as you can the damage you have done, to take the actions that will help you avoid this sin in the future, to grow in the way of life, not of death.

           The Lord is patient with us.  We need to be patient with ourselves, but also very honest, and ready to work at doing better.   We do not do this on our own, but rely on the help of the Holy Spirit.  As we heard in our second reading today: “But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one.  He is expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world.” 

          The readings today are clear.  Do not waste your time and effort on feeling guilty.  Rather, strive to do the work of repentance instead, which leads to greater life. 

God bless!