Repentance

Just came back from Assumption mass, and what the priest said really made me think. He's an outstation priest from Phillipines, and this was one of the very few times I actually found the priest's sermon interesting. I know it's very bad but sometimes it gets really boring when it comes to the priests' sermons. There was one part he said, about repenting and fixing the sin you've committed. By going for confession, your sins are forgiven. But that doesn't mean that it will undo the harm that you have caused with your sins. He gave an example, of a person stealing a cow. If you've stolen a cow and eaten it, even if your sins are forgiven, you can't return the cow to the person you stole it from anymore. So what can you do? You can count how much it costs to buy a cow, and return that amount of money to the person. Only that way, will you truly be purged of that sin. And then he gave another example. Friend A goes drinking with friend B. Friend A gets drunk, and punches friend B. Friend B loses his two front teeth. The next day, friend A apologises to friend B, and friend B understands that friend A was drunk and forgives. But friend A can never return the 2 front teeth to friend B. So what can friend A do? He can bring friend B to the dentist and pay for all the expenses required to restore his 2 front teeth.

These were more materialistic examples involving money, but the meaning is clear. If you've sinned, repented, and is forgiven, it isn't enough. It is only truly enough when you've undone the damage that was caused by your sin. Then he told a story.

A lady came to confession and told the priest her sins. Among these was one about spreading a bad rumour about someone. The priest told her her penance was to go home, take a chicken, and on the way to church pluck the feathers off the chicken one by one. And when she reaches the church, she is to turn back and walk home, and pick up the feathers she plucked off and stick them back on the chicken...every single feather. She answered the priest, "But how is it possible for me to return every single feather I plucked off to the chicken. Some of it may have flown away." The priest told her, "That's exactly the point. If you've spoilt somebody's good name, it is nearly impossible to restore that person's good name. Because even if you've told only one person and told that person not to tell, that person is bound to tell another person and tell that person not to tell. Soon the word will spread, and people who judge by other's words will have a bad impression of that person. So, even if you've been forgiven during confession, you cannot undo the damage you have caused." The moral of the story is, it's better not to sin in the first place.

The point of me writing this is 'cause I really don't understand why some people like to spread false rumours about others and gossip bout people. I know I'll never understand why they do it, but I still wonder.

And then there was this whole part about the world ending and we never know when we're gonna die etc etc so we should be prepared every day etc etc. I'm a bit too lazy to blog about that now. =D