Monday, June 13, 2011

Joel 2, 12-13 Return to me with your whole heart

Joel

(Joel 2, 12-13) Return to me with your whole heart

[12] Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; [13] Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the LORD, your God. For gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment.

(CCC 1430) Jesus' call to conversion and penance, like that of the prophets before him, does not aim first at outward works, "sackcloth and ashes," fasting and mortification, but at the conversion of the heart, interior conversion. Without this, such penances remain sterile and false; however, interior conversion urges expression in visible signs, gestures and works of penance (Cf. Joel 2:12-13; Isa 1:16-17; Mt 6:1-6; 16-18).

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