Wednesday of the First Week of Lent
(Jonah 3:1-10; Luke 11:29-32)
Pope Francis has said that conversion
or repentance is “a process that purifies us from moral encrustations.” He probably meant immoral encrustations. It is necessary that individuals recognize
their faults and correct them. If not,
the faults may result in something monstrous.
Francis is aware that conversion is not easy. He calls it “painful, because there is no
path of holiness without some sacrifice…”
He might have added that people think too much of themselves. They do not repent because they do not want
to admit that they were wrong.
Today’s first reading tells of an
extraordinary conversion. The great city
of Nineveh recognizes its sinfulness and repents. There is no historical evidence that this
conversion ever took place. But there
are other examples of national conversion.
Germany, after World War II, repented of its involvement with the Nazi’s
scientific experimentation on humans without consent and its attempted genocide. Today the country has relatively strict laws
protecting people, including fetuses, from harm in the name of science.
Perhaps when our sins are large, we
cannot hide from them. We are almost
forced to repent. Smaller sins are less
difficult to spot and more readily concealed.
Particularly this kind of sin – pornography, backbiting, lying -- challenges
us the most. Now is the time to rid them
of our lives forever.
