Our view of repentance
can be a gloomy one.
There seems little happiness
in mourning the past.

Yet if we do not repent
we cannot know the true measure of happiness
and will settle for superficialities
that cannot stand up to the storms of life.

Repentance
can be as refreshing as a shower,
as purifying as oxygen from the forest,
as freeing as an open meadow.

The disciples repented
and as a result they could share
the benefits of repentance with others.

They were able to expel demons,
anoint the sick with healing oil
and work cures of body and soul.

Repentance is not morbid introspection
that immobilizes a believer in a mire
of moody melancholy.

Repentance has the sharpness of a laser beam
to root out maladies that have been suppressed
and be free at last
to hear the sounds of joy and gladness.
The tears that fall
swiftly become bright rainbow droplets
that put a curtain over the tormented past
and an unveiling of a cheerful future,
and spreads sunshine to others.

- Fr. Gerald Keefe