Repentance. This virtue is something that all of us Christians should be practicing every single day. As you have read from the Holy Scripture Passage above my brothers and sisters, it is of utter and total importance that we all repent of our sins. Repent of your sins! If we do not repent of our sins, and keep our hearts hardened against the virtue of Repentance and True Contrition, (in Latin contrition translates to the breaking of something hardened), then we will surely perish in our sins, in our eternal separation from God. If we do not repent of our sinfulness, then our fallen nature will never be redeemed, we will never be connected to God, and we will never dwell in the great Love of God Jesus Christ. We must repent of our sins, or else face eternal suffering, separation, and agony in Hell, as a result of our own choice to not receive the supernatural Gift of Salvation and Life from God. So, I say to all of you, REPENT! 

Every time we commit sin against God, we are slowly killing ourselves. Why is it like that? Because every time we commit sin, we choose separation from God and deviation from God, and so if we separate ourselves from the Creator, and flat out leave the Author of Life, surely this path away from God will lead to real and total death, which is eternal separation from God, and so therefore completely cut off from Life. It is therefore very good that we repent of our sins and sinfulness, so we can stop killing ourselves and come to the Light of Christ, so that by the all-powerful Grace of God, we can be healed of our fallen nature, our sinfulness, our past sins, and so be totally redeemed and saved by God, being transformed into the likeness of his Son, Jesus Christ, bearing the full Image of God, and ultimately partaking of God's Love and Life for all eternity, rather than being separated from them for all eternity. So, I say to all of you, REPENT!

How does a Christian repent of sin? Since repentance is extremely important to Eternal Salvation and Life, which is the gift of God, we must know how to repent of sin. For Christians, the process of repentance may be a tiny bit different for each one of us, for the Holy Spirit who we all worship and adore with the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit works in each and every one of our own lives to ensure that we will have Salvation from God. However, the one thing that all Christians must have in order to properly repent according to the Guidance of the Holy Spirit is True Contrition.

In one sentence, True Contrition is the state of being in which when we recognize we have done something sinful to God, we, by the Grace and tender Love of the Holy Spirit, radically and definitively change our ways of thinking so as to not sin in that way ever again. True Contrition, or Genuine Repentance, is a real and valuable Virtue that the Holy Spirit invites us to partake and participate fully in. With True Contrition, we who have sinned feel the sorrow in our hearts, knowing that we did something wrong, hateful, and sinful to God and possibly also to our neighbors created in the Image of God. We feel that sorrow, that feeling that we fell hard and committed deadly grave sin that separates us from the Love of God. With this feeling, the Holy Spirit moves us into prayer, specifically prayers of repentance. It is especially important to enter into prayer with God when you realized that you have sinned. Without prayers of repentance, you really can't actually and genuinely repent. And when we pray the prayers of Repentance, such as Psalm 51, The Act of Contrition, The Jesus Prayer, The Kyrie Eleison, or the Prayer that the Holy Spirit teaches us to pray when we want to repent of our sins, we must pray with real meaning. Do not be deceived; if you want True Contrition and Genuine Repentance so you can be delivered out of sin and free from slavery to sin, you must pray with real meaning and real intent to never ever sin in those ways again. It's either radical and true repentance, or no repentance at all. 

It is important that when you pray, you must also believe that God can deliver you out of sin. Whenever you pray repentance, God is actively listening to you. Every word that comes out of your mouth when you pray repentance, God hears and listens intently, for he cares for you and he loves you. He wants you to be with him forever in his Love and Life for eternity, so of course he is going to listen closely to your prayer, and readily work in your life to deliver you out of sin. But of course, you must listen for his commands, for he will show you and tell you exactly how to be delivered out of your sin. "If you Love me, keep my commandments."

And even in prayer, it is important to pray with the right intent. Are we praying repentance and contrition out of real and genuine sorrow of heart that we sinned, or doing it for outside show? Are we praying repentance for the purpose of being free from sin forever, or are we just going through the motions to be a "good Christian"? Are we meaning the prayers we pray, or are we just saying them? Are we truly and genuinely intending to never sin in that way against God again, or not at all? Are we repenting and praying because we truly Love God, detest sin, and wanting to be free from sin forever and be united to God forever, or simply don't care? 

The virtue of True Contrition demands that we are genuine in our repentance, for when we truly are, the Grace and Almighty Power of God is gifted to us from God, and so we, by the Love and Grace of God, are given the path to Life and Salvation.

The best way to repent and have True Contrition is Sacramental Confession in an Apostolic Church, for you need to "Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed" from your sins by the Grace of God. The Priest has God-Given Authority to forgive sins and can offer Pastoral Advice inspired by the Holy Spirit for you so that God can totally redeem and heal you from slavery to sin. However, for those of us who need real and genuine forgiveness of sins right now, and there is no way to have Sacramental Confession, a prayer of repentance with a true contrite heart will be enough and pleasing to God, for "A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit, A broken and humbled heart God will not despise". In both cases for repentance, True Contrition is needed for genuine forgiveness of sins from our Loving God. And True Contrition once again is this: the firm resolvement to not sin again in the way one has sinned, after feeling genuine, real sorrow in the heart as a result of sin, and genuinely asking God to deliver them out of slavery to that sin, never going back to that sin, and so therefore receiving Forgiveness of Sins from God and the all-powerful and tender Grace of God that transforms sinners to saints.

 To illustrate this easily for some who may still not understand, I will tell a story of mine: recently I did sin in my thoughts about a certain person. I was deeply ashamed of what I thought, and it directly went against what Christ commanded us on the Sermon on the Mount. I felt real genuine sorrow in my heart, because I knew I sinned and was hateful not only to God, but also to this person who I care about. When I got home, I really prayed very intensely and meaningfully of repentance from that very heinous and evil sin in my thoughts. I prayed out of intent to never ever sin in that way ever again, because I Love God, this person, and hated how this sin hurt this person and went directly against God. I asked God to deliver me out of this evil heinous sin, which I really intend to never ever commit again, and seeing the genuineness of my prayer and the good intentions I have (detesting of this particular sin, intending to always Love God, and wanting to always Love this person), he gave me my penance of which I am carrying out at the time of writing, and forgave me, which to be absolutely honest, is really wonderful. And he's healing me of my sinfulness, so that I will not have a sinful way of thinking, and simply just Love God always, who is always deserving of all our Love. I would have gone to Sacramental Confession, but there wasn't really a way of doing that at the time, so I prayed with True Contrition, and I was forgiven and healed.

So my brothers and sisters, remember the virtue of True Contrition, keep it in your hearts always, and remember that whenever you have sinned and you feel sorrow in your heart, always go and immediately repent before God, whether in Sacramental Confession with a Priest, and if not in genuine, contrite, prayer full of repentance away from sin, and into the Love of God always. And you will be forgiven when you have True Contrition, to never ever sin in that way again, by the Grace of God the Holy Trinity.

May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God, and the Communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you always. Amen.