Repent, and enter into Life: Homily for the Third Sunday of Lent

I know of a, once very powerful, man. With his power, he usurped land, and  proceeded to build a magnificent mansion, in violation of every rule. And because power makes us attractive, he lived a debauched life. On one such misadventure, he went to a distant city, with the female relative, to engage there in a drug fueled adulterous relationship. Something went wrong, however, and he was struck down by a stroke, a state from which he has not fully recovered, even after the passage of many years.

My dear brothers and sisters, after having heard this anecdote, many of you will be nodding and thinking of how a sinful life eventually gets the punishment it deserves. And yet, in the Gospel this Sunday, Our Lord suggests to the contrary.

Responding to the news report that Pilate had killed some Jews who had just offered their sacrifices, Our Lord says:

“Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way
they were greater sinners than all other Galileans?
By no means!

Our Lord then adds another example to drive home the point. This time he speaks about a tower that fell on some people and killed them:

Or those eighteen people who were killed
when the tower at Siloam fell on them—
do you think they were more guilty
than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem?
By no means!

In making these two observations, Our Lord was challenging an assumption that is as popular today as it was in His own time, that calamity is the result of sin! In asking these rhetorical questions, Our Lord is making clear that the Jews that Pilate killed, and the eighteen people who were crushed by the tower of Siloam were not more guilty, or sinful, that any other people.

If so, then why did they die? Because it is a rule of this sinful world that we live in that bad things happen even to good people! It is true that, as in the anecdote I just recounted, the sins we commit can catch up with us even in our lifetimes, but it is more often the case that the unjust and the evil people of this world have wonderful lives (do read Psalm 73)! It is often the just who suffer!

But the point Our Lord was, and is, making is not about suffering, but about repentance, which is why after both these examples, he says the exact same words:

But I tell you, if you do not repent,
you will all perish as they did!

Repent, he says, and you will live. Do not repent, and then like those in the examples, who had no opportunity to repent, you will have died the second, and more important, death, the death of the soul.

My dear brothers and sisters, Our Lord constantly warns us that we must fear not physical death, but the death of the soul (Mt 10:28), and because death is always so close, so unpredictable, and one could die at any time, without the possibility of repenting, our entire life should be one of repentance.

The Christian life is one of joy, and the call to repentance does not mean a life of fear and mourning. In keeping with this principle of joy, the faith offers us the sacramental opportunity for repentance, in the form of the sacrament of reconciliation, all the time. All we need to do is find a priest and confess our sins. Remember also, that we should not receive communion if we are in mortal sin. A regular confession, therefore, is an excellent way to prepare for a good death.

There are also other ways in which we can prepare for a good death and make our lives one of continuous repentance. We can spend as many moments we have by repeating a prayer that is known as the Jesus prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,

Have mercy of me, a sinner.

Repeating this prayer constantly, and mindfully, will create in us the disposition necessary to lead a life of repentance, one that will regularly lead us to the sacrament of confession, and eventually to heaven.

This is the beauty of the Christian life; the call to repentance does not mean a life of fear and a long face. Because Our Lord has borne the price of our sin, and can take away our sin, our repentance does not lead to a wallowing in unhappiness. On the contrary, it opens the doors to happiness and joy, because we know that there is now a life after sin.

Brothers and sisters, we are halfway through Lent, a period we began with the words “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” This Sunday, Our Lord reiterates that message, inviting us to repent, and enter into life. Let us respond wholesomely to this call!

(A version of this homily was first preached to the faithful at the parish of Our Lady of the Rosary, Fatorda, on 23 March 2025.)

(Image reference: “Saint Jerome in penitence”, Jose de Ribera "el Españoleto", 1634, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid.)