19th October

I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus. Acts 20, 21

"The time has come," he said, "the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news. Mark 1, 15

Repentance is a word out of date, however, repentance is still necessary

In the French town Drancy on 30th September 1997 the Catholic church officially expressed it's regrets towards the international Jewish community for it's guilty indifference in regard to the Jews during occupation.

The high placed dignitary who spoke during this ceremony is not afraid to use the word "repentance" a few times to evoke and condemn an attitude which is older than 50 years.

This collective realizing and the confession which accompanied his speach reminds us that a committed failure is always present as long as there is no asking for forgiveness. Asking for forgiveness corresponds with "repentance". The word can disappear from the dictionnary, however, the facts are not deleted by the number of years.

At the same time there are two other important aspects of repentance:

The first aspect is that in front of God human responsibility is first of all individual and then collective. Every human being is invited to acknowledge his personal guilt.

The second aspect is that this confession does not only impose on persons who have been wronged by us, e. g. our husband or wife but that every failure first of all is a sin against God. The failure should be an object of repentance. A change of behaviour confirms repentance.