"No Fault" Repentance

 Most of us are aware of the auto insurance coverage labeled “No Fault Insurance.”  One purported benefit is to avoid legal entanglements so that those impacted by an accident can receive benefits to cover loss sooner that would otherwise be possible.

So, something bad has happened, and no one is to blame!

When we come to confession, I think we often approach the priest with these same ideas in mind.  Yes, there was sin, but no one is at fault for what happened.

One of the phrases used by many who come for confession is the expression “everyday sins”.  What exactly is this supposed to mean?  In the minds of some it’s likely to mean “This sin is so minor it doesn’t really need forgiveness.”  For others it would seem to indicate “The world is a dirty place, and just by walking in it, some of it gets on you.  Who can blame anyone for that?”

But you see, all of these perspectives turn the righteous and honorable process of confessing into something that has no meaning.  If the things that have “just happened around me” are being offered as my sins, the act of confessing has been neutered, for I leave no better than when I arrived. I’ve done nothing wrong.  The world has done it to me! That same “stuff” that’s in the world is going to happen again, and again, and if I don’t take the opportunity to cleanse myself of more than just “the same old stuff,” I’m not taking any steps to attempt to avoid falling into sins again—at any level.  St. Tikhon of Zadonsk wrote a piece, “On Self-Examination” where he gives this advice:

We believe in the Gospel, but do we live in a way that is worthy of the Gospel? We confess and we call on the true God; but do we please him with the faith and pure conscience that He requires of us? We listen to the holy word of God; but do we heed it, and do we correct ourselves according to its rules? We commune the holy and life-creating Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ; but are we renewed by Holy Communion and do we progress towards a new, spiritual personality?

Within our preparation for the sacrament of repentance, our focus on this new spiritual personality should come to the fore in our prayerful preparation.  I come to confession because I’m not content being the person who I am on a daily basis.  I want with my whole heart to become that person who my Master created me to be.  I want to serve Him, not myself.  I come in prayerful hope that He will open my eyes to those things in my life which separate me from Him.  I come in the expectation that He wants to and will forgive me of all that I confess in sincerity.

I come recognizing that I truly AM “at fault,” and I try not to leave before emptying my heart to my spiritual father.  Sometimes this process is blessed with tears.  Whatever the case, the process of cleansing only produces gain to the extent to which I commit to seeking repentance fully.

Generalizations within the act of confessing are not helpful.  Going to a doctor with the words, “I’m not feeling well” produces no healing benefit.  Where does it hurt?  How does it incapacitate you?  Only with honest answers can proper medicines be prescribed.  These same ideas must enter the confessional with us if we hope to be healed.

Archpastoral Message - Opening of Holy and Great Fast

 Your Grace, beloved Fathers, brothers and sisters in the Lord,

Once again, with the will and grace of God, the Giver of all good things, we are entering Holy and Great Lent, the blessed period of fasting and repentance, of spiritual vigilance and journey with the Lord, as He approaches His voluntary Passion, so that we may reach the veneration of His glorious Resurrection and become worthy of our own passage from earthly things to “what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived” (1 Cor. 2:9).

In the early Church, Holy and Great Lent was a period of preparation for catechumens, whose baptism took place during the Divine Liturgy of Pascha. This connection with baptism is also preserved in the understanding and experience of Great Lent as the period par excellence of repentance, described as “a renewal of baptism,” “a second baptism,” “a covenant with God for a second life,” in other words, a renewal of the grace of baptism and a promise to God for the beginning of a new way of life. The services and hymns of this season associate the spiritual struggle of the faithful with the expectation of the Lord’s Pascha, whereby the forty-day fast radiates the fragrance of Paschal joy.

Holy and Great Lent is an opportunity to become conscious of the depth and richness of our faith as “a personal encounter with Christ.” It is rightly emphasized that Christianity is “extremely personal,” without this implying that it is “individualistic.” The faithful “encounter, recognize, and love one and the same Christ, Who alone revealed the true and perfect human person” (St. Nicholas Cabasilas). He invites all people—and each person individually—to salvation, so that the response of each may always be “grounded in the common faith” and, at the same time, be unique.

I prayerfully wish all of you in our God-protected Diocese of the USA, Canada, and Australia a blessed and salvific Holy and Great Lent 2026.

+Metropolitan Joseph

In Search of Fervent Prayer

Here's a spiritual lesson you can try at home.  Take a candle that has never been lit, and also a lighter.  Using the lighter, pass its flame over the wick.  Note how it does not immediately light.  Do it again.  Still no light, right?  Now, hold the flame on the wick until you confirm that it has lit.  Now, blow the candle out.  Walk away for 5 minutes, then come back and repeat the above.  Note that now that the wick has supported a flame, the candle lights with much less effort.  Now as a final step, light the candle, blow it out, then immediately pass the lighter flame NEAR the wick.  See how the flame leaps to the wick and it burns fully.  What is the purpose of this effort?  A candle is emblematic of our prayers.  If we do not pray, we are like the candle that has never been lit.  The flame must remain with us for a long time for us to show our prayer.  Once we have approached prayer, we are like the candle which has been lit, and it becomes easier for us to support the flame, to engage in profitable prayers.  It takes less to get us going!  Finally, if we are praying but have our prayer interrupted, then re-engage it quickly, the flame leaps to light the way.  So it is with our prayer.  Thank you, St. Paul, for teaching us that we need to pray without ceasing!  (1Thes 5:16-18)