Panis Angelicus: brotherSEPH's HOLY WEEK REFLECTION FOR HOLY THURSDAY: TRUE REPENTANCE

"TRUE REPENTANCE involves a change of heart and not just a change of behavior."

- Ezra Taft Benson

He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things."

- Luke 24:46-48

But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

- Luke 19:8

In popular culture today, and often in Christian culture, repentance is a matter of feeling sorry. “Repent of your sins” (not that many people speak this way anymore) means, “Be sorry for what you have done.” Such sorrow seems often to be remorse over having been found out more than genuine sadness over having done wrong.

Biblical repentance usually includes feeling sorry for our behavior. But repentance is not a matter of feelings, but of choices and actions. In Scripture, “to repent” means “to turn around and go the other direction.” It’s a change of purpose, intention, and values. It means living in a whole different way, turning from sin, turning to God, and walking in his paths.

Zacchaeus offers an accurate, stirring picture of repentance. The tax collector, hated for his collusion with Rome and for getting rich by taking advantage of the people he taxed, has a life-changing encounter with Jesus. Luke doesn’t even tell us what, if anything, Jesus said to encourage Zacchaeus’ response. But the response is stunning: “I will give half of my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much” (19:8). Talk about repentance! Zacchaeus doesn’t just feel bad about his past behavior. He resolves to change it dramatically, to make right what he has done wrong. Implicitly, he will live in a radically different model from this moment on.

When God meets us and stuns us with his grace, we rightly do more than feel a little bad. We embrace his grace in a way that transforms our lives. We begin to live in a whole new key, joining the symphony of the kingdom of God. To be sure, we do this imperfectly, hitting many bad notes along the way. But a life of repentance means that we continue to turn to God, again and again, seeking him and seeking to honor him by how we live each day.

QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION:

Have you ever experienced repentance in any way like that of Zacchaeus? When? Why did you repent? What gives you a desire to leave behind your sin in order to live more fully for God?

Dear Lord, thank you for this powerful picture of repentance. Zacchaeus models something that happens when we encounter you in your justice and righteousness, in your love and grace. When we truly meet you, we feel drawn to turn our lives around, not in order to earn your favor, but in response to your favor freely given. Thank you!

PRAYER:

Lord, help me to repent daily of my sin. Help me to be an instrument of the repentance of others. May I always receive Your words in love and offer them in the form of love that is most effective. Jesus, I trust in You.

Help me, Dear Lord, even today, to live a life that moves in your direction. Help me to say “no” to sin and “yes” to you all day. AMEN.

What is "Panis Angelicus"?

It started from a simple spiritual bible verse on which I mostly posted daily in my personal Facebook account, I've seeing myself realizing the idea what if I will post something different to my audiences sharing my spiritual thoughts/insights in life based on my experiences as a former church servant. Indeed, the world of social media nowadays are full of negativity where many people who are "toxic" in terms of sharing ideas and opinions, on which I personally described. Some people have already forgotten the so-called respect and being open-minded in terms of sharing ideas and opinions on each other. It comes to the point that sometimes we didn't know and feel that we're already crossing the lines causing our egos would probably triggered and even tempered due to our different emotions and expressions. For me, there are lots of causes and reasons why all of these are happen in our society today. Maybe it's because the world nowadays are also under the influence of a so-called millennial traits and other social aspects in life on which other people most especially the youth tend to do unnecessary traits that would make to hurt the feelings of others. By this, some people often forget to show RESPECT to their elder ones and even their parents as well. The new generation of youth today is far different from those times of our lolos and lolas. Even in simple greeting (in a normal traditional Filipino custom of Mano Po) showing your respect to your elders are already forgotten to practice by some of our younger ones and even adults of today. Some people often forget to pray and say the Holy Rosary together with your family every night and even go to church on Sundays to attend holy masses, maybe it is because the people of today are also changing their personal aspects and priorities in life due to power, wealth and pride.

So I decided create this blog page entitled, "Panis Angelicus". This name (Latin for "Bread of Angels" or "Angelic Bread") derived from the penultimate strophe of the hymn "Sacris solemniis" written by Saint Thomas Aquinas for the feast of Corpus Christi as part of a complete liturgy of the feast, including prayers for the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours. It is a collection of spiritual reflections/verses taken from the Daily Readings in the Holy Bible. Aside of spiritual reflections/verses, you'll also read some of my different insights/opinions regarding on the different types of issues that happen in our world today and what would be its connection in terms of talking about the spiritual aspects in life.

By this simple cause on which I usually loved to do during my church days to help other people in the community by means of participating on various community outreach programs organized by the former parish church that I've served, I'm eagerly open my hands to help most especially those people who already reject nor forget GOD as the center of their life by means of educating and enlighten their minds not just in spiritual aspects but also in moral aspects of life that in this world, nobody's perfect and permanent. Feel free to comment on my posts or share your own thoughts. I'd love to hear from you.

brotherSEPH's HOLY WEEK REFLECTION FOR HOLY THURSDAY: TRUE REPENTANCE

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