Saint John Chrysostom on Repentance

During the Office of Readings last Tuesday, there was a reading that caught my attention and I kept going back to it all week.
We have been reading about prayer for the past month and our focus last week was how people of different temperaments tend to embrace certain types of prayer and overlook others, but it may be very useful to approach prayer differently and change how one relates to God and perceives himself in relation to Him.
The similarity of how I approach repentance struck me. I have habitual modes of operation and infrequently if ever consider different paths, but it may be very beneficial to embrace a different approach to God and cast light on an aspect of myself that I am not ordinarily in touch with.

It has been very beneficial for me this week to consider both how I approach repentance and that I often forget that sin damages human interactions as well as relations with God. But just as one person's sins affect all, so a person's holiness becomes like a light for others (Saint Sharbel Makhloof).

I love St. John Chrysostom's writings because he is very clear and concise. His biblical interpretation is usually different from what strikes me first, but he preaches with great conviction and rouses action.


Second Reading
From a homily by Saint John Chrysostom, Bishop

Five paths of repentance

     Would you like me to list also the paths of repentance? They are numerous and quite varied, and all lead to heaven.
     A first path of repentance is the condemnation of your own sins: Be the first to admit your sins and you will be justified. For this reason, too, the prophet wrote: I said: I will accuse myself of my sins to the Lord, and you forgave the wickedness of my heart. Therefore, you too should condemn your own sins; that will be enough reason for the Lord to forgive you, for a man who condemns his own sins is slower to commit them again. Rouse your conscience to accuse you within your own house, lest it become your accuser before the judgment seat of the Lord.
     That, then, is one very good path of repentance. Another and no less valuable is to put out of our minds the harm done us by our enemies, in order to master our anger, and to forgive our fellow servants' sins against us. Then our own sins against the Lord will be forgiven us. Thus you have another way to atone for sin: For if you forgive your debtors, your heavenly Father will forgive you.
     Do you want to know of a third path? It consists of prayer that is fervent, careful and comes from the heart.
     If you want to hear of a fourth, I will mention almsgiving, whose power is great and far-reaching.
     If, moreover, a man lives a modest, humble life, that, no less than the other things I have mentioned, takes sins away. Proof of this is the tax-collector who had no god deeds to mention, but offered his humility instead and was relieved of a heavy burden of sins.
     Thus I have shown you five paths of repentance; condemnation of your own sins, forgiveness of our neighbor's sins against us, prayer, almsgiving, and humility. Do not be idle, then, but walk daily in all these paths; they are easy, and you cannot plead your poverty. For, though you live out your life amid great need, you can always set aside your wrath, be humble, pray diligently and condemn your own sins; poverty is no hindrance. Poverty is not an obstacle to our carrying out the Lord's bidding, even when it comes to that path of repentance which involves giving money (almsgiving, I mean). The widow proved that when she put her two mites into the box!
     Now that we have learned how to heal these wounds of ours, let us apply these cures. Then, when we have regained genuine health, we can approach the holy table with confidence, go gloriously to meet Christ, the king of glory, and attain the eternal blessings through the grace, mercy, and kindness of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Responsory Tobit 12:8-9; Luke 6:37-38

Prayer accompanied by fasting and giving to the poor is good; it is better to give to the poor than to store up gold,
- for giving to the poor expiates every sin.

Forgive and you shall be forgiven; give and it shall be given to you.
- For giving to the poor expiates every sin.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit
- Prayer accompanied by fasting and giving to the poor is good; it is better to give to the poor than to store up gold, for giving to the poor expiates every sin.