A new future is possible

Taupo Times, Volume 19, Issue 99, 23 December 1970, Page 8

A new future is possible

Man creates himself by his own acts. After every good or evil work he is a different person. His past lives on in him. Yet, man is essentially more than his past and his present. He can "deny" what his own being has become, he can regret his past, he can be ashamed of his past actions, he can repent, he can be transformed and become a new being. His greatness consists to a large extent on his being able to do this. True humanity comes into being a s a result of repentance. REGRET: The emotion of regret is most valuable. It signifies that man can look at himself from outside, that he can be dissatisfied with himself, that he is greater than the reality produced by his past. He says: "I am aware of my wretchedness. But I have a longing for something better. I am sorry that I have not been different." When a man regrets he begins to b'e truly human. SHAME : If a man lived alone he could regret his past, he could even be ashamed of his own eyes. But the emotion of shame only attains fts full significance with regard to persons to whom man knows he is bdund by love. When a man is ashamed he says: "l cannot give myself to those l love in the present state of what I have become; l ought to be 'different' if l am to present myself to them without 'covering up' any part of myself." Alas, unhappy the man who loves no one. The power of love is not helplessly abandoned to his shame. He has the right to give himself in love just as he is, just as he has become. It requires effort and is accompanied by an "ashamed" diffidence. He says to the one he loves: 'I give myself to you just as I am, but as I do I feel ashamed that I am not better. I hope that I may still brighten your life a little, I also hope that I do not sadden you with what I am." This attitude of "self-giving with a feeling of shame" is the mark of a very great love, which benefits the other person who is being loved. It is an attitude of humble selflessness. REPENTANCE: Shame alone cannot transform a man. Shame must be drawn up in love. Alas unhappy the man who does not experience that he is being loved A true and final liberation from the past can only be brought about through love. A person must hear the redeeming words: "I love you in spite of everything." To this love he is able to answer: "I am not worthy of your love.' it is his innermost part of himself which now says "I am not worthy." And then he is redeemed. He begins to recognise what was truly evil in his past. He can undertake the task of separating the good from the evil within himself. Of course this will always cause him a good deal of pain. What is evil is cast away. His whole world is demolished. But out of the ruins of his former self a new and glorious world comes into being. A new future becomes possible, and he sees a way forward. Of course the past has its effects, especially on the psychic level. and bears on his present and future. But on the personal level everything changes. Repentance is a true way to greatness. It demonstrates that a soul is still alert, still sensitive to what is new, different and better, and that it is able to escape the continual assaults of evil and constantly to make a new beginning. It is a condition of true joy, of a ready and vigorous heart on the road to being. Happy are we if our love for someone enables us to regret, to be ashamed, to repent. Happy are we if we are being loved by someone who says: "I love you in spite of everything. Try again. Become new." Happier still the man who can see his God in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, who dared utter these words: "Can any one of you convict me of sin?" who addressed men with words such as these: "Y ou who are evil " We cannot understand this man in purely human terms. Here is human greatness without repentance. What intolerable arrogance if he is not more than man, if he is not what he claims to be. "God become man." If one cannot believe in Him. one ought to hate him. Happier still the man who through this Jesus knows and experiences a God, who loves us not for our worth but "in spite of everything," a God, who "came to call sinners to repentance," a God who "offers to recommence, to renew your life, no matter what age you may have reached " a God, who makes you this proposition: "I make a new being of you, one who is happy and overflowing with joy. Accept my love." Who wants to accept? Who wants to begin anew to believe again, to hope again, to be young again, to pardon everyone and to be on good terms with all? Who wants to celebrate a rebirth this Christmas?