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