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| St. John Chrysostom, Church Father and Doctor |
The Five Paths of Repentance
by St. John Chrysostom
Early Church Father and Doctor of the Church
Would you like me to list also
the paths of repentance? They are numerous and quite varied, and all lead to
heaven.
A first path of
repentance is the condemnation of your own sins: Be the first to admit your
sins and you will be justified. For this reason, too, the prophet wrote: I
said: I will accuse myself of my sins to the Lord, and you forgave the
wickedness of my heart. Therefore, you too should condemn your own sins; that
will be enough reason for the Lord to forgive you, for a man who condemns his
own sins is slower to commit them again. Rouse your conscience to accuse you
within your own house, lest it become your accuser before the judgment seat of
the Lord.
That, then, is
one very good path of repentance. Another and no less valuable one is to put
out of our minds the harm done us by our enemies, in order to master our anger,
and to forgive our fellow servants' sins against us. Then our own sins against
the Lord will be forgiven us. Thus you have another way to atone for sin: For
if you forgive your debtors, your heavenly Father will forgive you.
Do you want to
know of a third path? It consists of prayer that is fervent, careful and comes
from the heart.
If you want to
hear of a fourth, I will mention almsgiving, whose power is great and
far-reaching.
If, moreover, a
man lives a modest, humble life, that, no less than the other things I have
mentioned, takes sin away. Proof of this is the tax-collector who had no good
deeds to mention, but offered his humility instead and was relieved of a heavy
burden of sins.
Thus I have
shown you five paths of repentance; condemnation of your own sins, forgiveness
of our neighbor's sins against us, prayer, almsgiving and humility.
Do not be idle,
then, but walk daily in all these paths; they are easy, and you cannot plead
your poverty. For, though you live out your life amid great need, you can
always set aside your wrath, be humble, pray diligently and condemn your own
sins; poverty is no hindrance. Poverty is not an obstacle to our carrying out
the Lord's bidding, even when it comes to that path of repentance which
involves giving money (almsgiving, I mean). The widow proved that when she put
her two mites into the box!
Now that we have
learned how to heal these wounds of ours, let us apply the cures. Then, when we
have regained genuine health, we can approach the holy table with confidence,
go gloriously to meet Christ, the king of glory, and attain the eternal
blessings through the grace, mercy and kindness of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Taken from The Crossroads Initiative this link features more writings from this great saint.
http://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/library_article/1218/Five_Paths_of_Repentance___John_Chrysostom.html
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