Conversion of the heart – inner repentance.

The call to repentance is one of the essential elements of the biblical reference. The concept of repentance was formed simultaneously with the concept of sin. Originally, sin was understood together. All misfortunes were considered punishment for the chosen people’s infidelity to the covenant. They understood repentance as a means of alleviating God’s wrath and limited it mainly to external actions (weeping, lamentation, dressing, marking the head with ashes, confessing sins).

The New Testament sees repentance as a means of inner transformation. St. John the Baptist calls for people to confess their sins and change their actions. He urged the listeners: „Bring fruit worth repentance“ (Lk 3,8). The first message that Jesus told people was a call to conversion. Jesus admonished: „ If you do not repent, you will all perish similarly“ (Lk 13.5). From this call to conversion, the apostles began the proclamation of the Gospel. (Acts 2,37)

The fathers of spiritual life say that one of the causes of a person’s spiritual stagnation is the lack of courage to turn away from sin and cling to the Truth and Light, which is Christ. Although we love God, know His will, and try to fulfill it, something in us distances us from God, and we rebel against Him. As a result, we act and choose on our own. A free decision against the order of nature that God gave weakens our love for God and, consequently, begets sin. Through sin, we lose the beauty of the soul, wound the heart of the Savior, move away from God, and, above all, expose ourselves to the loss of eternal life. That is why God calls us to conversion and repentance.

The catechism teaches that „ Jesus’ call to conversion and repentance does not apply primarily to external actions, to „bag and ash“, to posts and mortifications, but to the conversion of the heart, to internal repentance. Without him, acts of repentance remain fruitless and deceitful. Inner conversion encourages this attitude to manifest itself in visible signs, acts, and acts of repentance“ (KKC 1430)

God does not ask us to put on a sack as the inhabitants of Nineveh. He wants us to end sin, confess it at confession, and fulfill spiritual and physical acts of mercy. Working on oneself involves examining all areas of one’s life and making order about a goal such as God. Man alone cannot do this. He needs God’s help. „Conversion is above all the work of the grace of God, who causes our hearts to return to him“ (KKC 1432) A person who repents must wholeheartedly desire to do good, otherwise live, and change his actions, because „Inner repentance is a radical reorientation of the whole life, a return, turning to God with all your heart, leaving sin behind, turning away from evil, associated with resistance to evil deeds“ (KKC 1431).

Let’s remember: Conversion is the decision to completely cling to God and accept a new life path. By cooperating with God’s grace, man experiences inner transformation. When he turns away from evil, he tries God’s mercy and forgiveness. Outward ones should come from inner conversion.