By Msgr. Josefino S. Ramirez
Today’s gospel contains very strong words from Jesus Christ: “Unless you repent, you will all perish!” (Luke 13:5).
Jesus, who referred to Himself as being meek and humble, who attracted the little children to Himself, is the very same person who now has these very strong words.
Why? Can He really make such a general statement and apply it to all of us? Could He be making a sweeping generalization or a rash judgment? That is very unlikely if we consider that Jesus Christ is God and, therefore, He knows the inner secrets of each human heart.
It must be true that we all are in need of repentance, of conversion. We can understand this better if we look inside us.
Every man is in the world in order to know, love and serve God. God is the last end of every man, and, therefore, each has to move gradually toward God. Yet we see that we are often deflected from this end.
Saint Augustine referred to sin as turning away from God in order to direct ourselves to temptations. It is to give up the Creator for the sake of His creation. We do this when we deliberately refuse to live according to the moral order to established by God.
Since all of us are easily attracted by temptations (pleasure, greed, power, fame, etc.), then we are all in need of repentance. We need to reverse that tendency inside each one of us so that we turn away from temptations in order to direct ourselves toward God.
If not, we shall perish. We shall fail to reach our ultimate end. We shall fail to achieve the objective purpose of our life. We shall end up unhappy here on Earth, and with the very serious possibility of not achieving the eternal life of heaven.
The season of Lent is a season of penance. It is not a season of sadness, but of joy. When a person, who is far from God, decides to repent and to be reconciled with God, he experiences a profound joy.
So the invitation of Christ to repentance, coupled with what seems to be a warning, can be compared to the loving warnings of a parent who knows what is the best for the child. The parents, in warning a child, do not wish to make the child’s life miserable.
On the contrary, they give that warning because they see much further, and they want the best for their children.
Jesus Christ sees things from the perspective of eternity. And so He invites us to that which will be the best for us—repentance and conversion.