The Process of Repentence

This year, I made a commitment to fast from social media for Lent. I was spending far too many hours scrolling feeds and it was turning me away from more fruitful spiritual activities. So far, so good! 

But inevitably, other distractions have surfaced which call to mind that once we’ve conquered one sin, another shows up to continue to turn us away from God. Truth be told, the devil is always at work with new vices to lure us away from Our Father.

Repentance is a process. It’s not one and done. Once we’ve conquered one sin, another shows up, and then we must conquer that one, over and over again until we are made whole and perfect. This is what ongoing conversion is made up of.

Here’s a good sign of a sin: What am I turning to when instead I could turn to God? Is there anything that is causing me to turn away from God and His ways?

Today’s Gospel shows us that God is patient with us. I would also say that we should be patient with ourselves. Sin after sin can be discouraging to a faithful person, but over time, God is making us fruitful and bringing forth good fruit from all the barren trees of our sins.

The questions for us to ask ourselves are:

• Am I truly seeing my sins - the ways that I turn away from God and His ways? 
• Are new sins replacing old sins? 
• Have I conquered any sins? 
• What new sins do I need to repent of? 
• What fruit is God trying to bring forth from my repentance?