Repentance: Set Free From Ourselves

Thursday we will remember the Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist. The gory details need not detain us here. You can read the full account in Mark 6:17-29, or listen to it at Mass if you prefer. Dancing girls, a wicked ruler, beheading... none too attractive but all too interesting.

Leave it to Benedict XVI to pull from the story a spiritual lesson of the first magnitude.

"The task set before the Baptist as he lay in prison was to become blessed by this unquestioning acceptance of God's obscure will; to reach the point of asking no further for external, unequivocal clarity, but,instead, of discovering God precisely in the darkness of this world and of his own life, and thus becoming profoundly blessed.

John even in his prison cell had to respond once again and anew to his own call for metanoia or a change of mentality, in order that he might recognize his God in the night in which all things earthly exist. Only when we act in this manner does another- and doubtless the greatest- saying of the Baptist reveal its full significance: 'He must increase, but I must decrease' (Jn 3:30). We will know God to the extent that we are set free from ourselves."

Justin Time

St. Justin Martyr was a Pagan philosopher who converted at age 30 by reading the Scriptures and witnessing the heroism and faith of martyrs. Justin used his philosophical skills to dispute with pagans and explain the faith, becoming one of the first great Christian apologists. He opened a school of public debate in Rome and was beheaded at Rome in 165 A.D. Today is his feast day.

Here is an excerpt from his First Apology in Defense of the Christians, written around 155 A.D. Note the clarity of his description of the basics: Christology, repentance, forgiveness, baptism.

"Through Christ we received new life and we consecrated ourselves to God. I will explain the way in which we did this. Those who believe what we teach is true and who give assurance of their ability to live according to that teaching are taught to ask God's forgiveness for their sins by prayer and fasting and we pray and fast with them.

We then lead them to a place where there is water and they are reborn in the same way as we were reborn; that is to say, they are washed in the water in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the whole universe, of our Savior Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit.

This is done because Christ said: Unless you are born again you will not enter the kingdom of heaven, and it is impossible for anyone, having once been born, to reenter his mother's womb.

An explanation of how repentant sinners are to be freed from their sins is given through the prophet Isaiah in the words: Wash yourselves and be clean. Remove the evil from your souls; learn to do what is right. Be just to the orphan, vindicate the widow. Come, let us reason together, says the Lord. If your sins are like scarlet, I will make them white as wool; if they are like crimson, I will make them white as snow. But if you do not heed me, you shall be devoured by the sword. The mouth of the Lord has spoken."

The apostles taught us the reason for this ceremony of ours. Our first birth took place without our knowledge or consent because our parents came together, and we grew up in the midst of wickedness. So if we were not to remain children of necessity and ignorance, we needed a new birth of which we ourselves would be conscious, and which would be the result of our own free choice. We needed, too, to have our sins forgiven.

This is why the name of God, the Father and Lord of the whole universe, is pronounced in the water over anyone who chooses to be born again and who has repented of his sins. The person who leads the candidate for baptism to the font calls upon God by this name alone, for God so far surpasses our powers of description that no one can really give a name to him. Anyone who dares to say that he can must be hopelessly insane.

This baptism is called "illumination" because of the mental enlightenment that is experienced by those who learn these things. The person receiving this enlightenment is also baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and in the name of the Holy Spirit, who through the prophets foretold everything concerning Jesus."

Jesus is calling you

I heard these words today at Mass, spoken to blind Bartimaus in the gospel reading, as if spoken to me. "Take courage, get up, Jesus is calling you." He is calling us all, all of us, each and every one who humbly cries out to him to come and help us in our infirmity. It is interesting to me to note the similarity between blind Bartimaus' prayer response and the traditional Jesus prayer one version of which is "Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

Both are humble cries for help, both are addressed to the same saving Lord. Both prayers are the cry of hearts who know their deep need. There have been some times in my life, even recently, when all I could manage to pray was this Jesus Prayer. It is enough.

I also heard today that wonderful English hymn, with words by George Herbert and featuring a haunting melodic setting by Ralph Vaughan Williams. The title of the melody is as tantalizing as the musical notes themselves. I wish I was techno-saavy enough to provide you a link to the composition. But the words alone will have to suffice. It's simply entitled "the Call."

You'll forgive me if I share all three stanzas:

Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life:
Such a way as gives us breath;
Such a truth as ends all strife;
Such a life as killeth death.

Come my Light, my Feast, my Strength;
Such a light as shows a feast;
Such a feast as mends in length;
Such a strength as makes his guest.

Come my Joy, my Love, my Heart;
Such a joy as none as come move;
Such a love as none can part;
Such a heart as joys in love.

Tonight I pray again "Come, Lord Jesus, have mercy on me, a sinner."