Lent #7: Repentance

 The Comforter will convict

      the world of guilt and sin. (John 16:7-8)

Among other things, like contriteness and forbearing, Lent is a season of repentance. My professor friend brought it up in relation to racism—seen and unseen. It seems the more people are told to repent, the less they are inclined to acknowledge any need for repentance. It is something you can’t talk people into.

Even the best of us have a hard time repenting. We can’t help but fudge. “We’re actually not that bad;” we think to ourselves. Or, I’ll want it known that it’s not altogether my fault. And other forms of “slip sliding away,” as Paul Simon sings it. True repentance is a gift of the Holy Spirit. As Jesus promised: “The Comforter will convict the world of guilt and sin” (Jn 16:7). That’s comforting.