HOMILY FOR SUNDAY OF THE 3RD WEEK OF EASTER, YEAR B

HOMILY FOR SUNDAY OF THE 3RD WEEK OF EASTER, YEAR B

HOMILY THEME: DON’T JUST REGRET, REPENT

BY: Fr Anthony C Ohaekwusi

Have you ever made a decision that you wish you could take back, or performed an action that made you say: if I had known the full picture, I wouldn’t have done this? When this happens in our lives, we use the word regret. But is it enough?

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I remember the story of a priest who was sent to work in a foreign country. As a newcomer to the country, he had an appointment with the Home Office to register and obtain a residence permit. On that Friday morning, he received a call from someone who needed his letter of recommendation to enrol his children in a Catholic school. So he decided to rush to the Home Office and return in the evening to meet with that person. At the Home Office, he saw a long queue and wondered what was wrong. When his turn came, he was treated badly by the employees, who chatted idly and ignored him. He tried to give his documents to one of them, who shouted in a harsh voice: “it’s almost break time, and I don’t play with my break”. By the time he finished, it was late afternoon, so he hurriedly returned to the presbytery to write the letters for this parishioner. He was astounded, however, when he opened the door and saw that this parishioner was the same person who had yelled at him earlier that day. Of course, this person regrets and would like to reverse that encounter, but what would regret do, if we don’t repent from such actions?

The message of this Sunday’s readings points to this reality that as Christians, regret is not enough. When Peter spoke to the Israelites, he acknowledged that God had used their error and betrayal to make the salvation of humanity a reality. So rather than regretting and wishing that everything be reversed, he called on them to repent and conform to God’s will, which had turned the outcome of their evil into an unexpected good.

Peter said this because the best solution to every regret is to repent. To remain in regret shows that we are disappointed only in the result and not in the very action.

God’s salvation delivers us from regrets and restores us to a perfect relationship with Him and with one another. Jesus appeared to the disciples and opened their minds to understand this truth, that we can only be at peace when we repent, forgive ourselves and forgive others.

So we should not stop at regretting our disappointments because of unforeseen results, but rather we should repent from such actions to prevent them from happening again. It is not enough to regret a road rage that delayed someone who happened to be the surgeon that was rushing for an emergency operation to save the life of your relative; or to regret having used a stereotype against a woman who ended up being the person interviewing for the position we are applying for.

Often we regret because the sin did not work in our favour. But Christ wants us to repent and purge ourselves of these sins, because he is our eternal advocate, who not only knows the full picture of our lives, but also shows us how to make things right with God.

When we repent, we regret and change our ways.

Remain lifted and do have a great Sunday.

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