Fr. Nnamdi Moneme, OMV: Why We Choose Contrition & Reject Regrets

“Tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.” 

I was having a conversation with a childhood friend of mine back in my native country of Nigeria a few weeks after I was ordained a priest. He said to me, “We have known each other very well all these years. Looking back now at your life before becoming a religious priest, do you have any regrets about your past?” I managed to stutter this reply to him then, “Having sorrow and contrition for my sins? Yes! Nurturing regrets about my past? No way!”

I would still give the same reply today but more emphatically because holding on to the past through regrets by dwelling on what should or could have been is a complete waste of time and energy. Most importantly, I have come to see that regretting the past make us blind to the graces and opportunities that God in His goodness is offering to us at the present moment for a new beginning and a deepening of His life in us through our free choices. …

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