Penance, essentially, always requires a change of life: from sin to virtue, luke warmness to fervor, fervor to sanctity. This interior change cannot be effected without divine help, but the Lord is not stingy in this regard, and even as he is calling a man to penitence, he is offering the grace necessary for this conversion.
For the Christian, to heed the call to do penance and to open his heart to the grace of conversion, means living his baptism, the sacrament through which men are plunged into the paschal mystery of Christ; they die with him, are buried with him, and rise with him. It is for this reason that during Lent the Liturgy often dwells on baptismal themes.
Death and resurrection in Christ, which are operative from baptism, are not a static fact which happened once for all, but a vital dynamic fact which should involve the Christian in the Lord's death and resurrection every day.
Divine Intimacy
Father Gabriel of
St. Mary Magdalen, OCD
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