Part 2
Section 2
Chapter 2
Article 4
Part IV
Interior Penance
Jesus' Call to conversion and penance, like that of the
prophets before him, does not aim first at outward works, "sack-
cloth and ashes," fasting and mortification, but at the conversion of
the heart, interior conversion. Without this, such penance remain
sterile and false; however, interior conversion urges expression in
visible signs, gestures and works of penance.
Inter repentance 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).
The human heart is heavy and hardened. God must give
man a new heart. Conversion is first of all a work of the grace 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. It is in discovering the greatness of God's love that our
heart is shaken by the horror and weight of sin and begins to fear
offending God by sin and being separated from him. The human
heart is converted by looking upon him whom our sins have pierced:
Let us fix our eyes on Christ's blood and understand how
precious it is to his Father, for, poured our for our salvation
it has brought to the whole world the grace of repentance.
Since Easter, the Holy Spirit has proved "the world wrong
about sin," i.e., proved that the world has not believed in him
whom the Father has sent. But this same Spirit who beings sin to
light is also the Consoler who gives the human heart grace for
repentance and conversion.
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