Tuesday 4 March 2008

For the rest of the week Merton will be sharing words from a variety of church teachers.



(Ananda) Coomaraswamy...once outlined the meaning of the process called metanoia, or recovery of one's right mind, the passage from ignorance of self to enlightened moral awareness. "Repentance," he said, quoting Hermas, "is a great understanding" ( and by no means an emotional crisis!) It is the ability to cast off the intolerable burden of the past act, no longer seen as irreversible. But obviously no person enclosed in oneself can utter an omnipotent word of command and abolish his own sin. The "knowledge" and "understanding" which is truly the "great (and repentant, liberated) understanding" is therefore "understanding-with" or "con-scientia" (conscience). "A kind of synthesis or agreement by which our internal conflict is resolved and 'all the knots of the heart are loosed.'" It is to understand "with" our inmost self "in a union transcending consciousness of a within or a without."



We cannot be a non-violent person without taking on the journey of repentance. I enjoyed hearing other ways of putting that. "The recovery of one's right mind" is especially good. It is that mind that is blessed...it is the recovery of our potential to be fully human as God created us. Therefore, all the ways we fold into ourselves and become self-centered are let go and we once again grasp hold of the gift of full life that is ours for the taking. "All the knots of the heart are loosened" is another good image. As we all know, that is not something we can do simply on our own. Those knots can come back and become more tight than before any loosening. It is good, for people of faith, to be reminded of the power of our God to loosen those knots. It is then that we are placed within a situation of repentance - turning around - grasping hold of the gift - being liberated within and without.



Connection: Repentance is not such a bad word - even though it has been used to beat people down. It is a word worth saving as long as we save some of these wonderful images of new life.



You call us to turn to you, O God, and trust the story you tell about us. Too often we are not satisfied with those words of love and look to find our own way. Call us back again, O God. Amen.