"To repent is not to look downwards at my own shortcomings, but upwards at God's love; it is not to look backwards with self-reproach but forward with trustfulness; it is to see not what I have failed to be, but what by the grace of Christ I might yet become." St. John Climacus

The call to repent is a grace to become more than I have been and to recognize that the focus is not myself but the One who loves me enough to enable me to repent. As important as my response is, it is really God's mercy and love that is the essential point of repentance. Often we have a hesitancy to repent. That is because our focus is still on our self-- our unworthiness, our unwillingness to let go of the sin, our fear of failure. Such a focus is the snare of the Devil. But when we look beyond ourselves to the my purpose and destiny of existence, we will see that God is calling and enabling me to repent. All I have to do is say yes to the grace he gives me. Repentance is not a feeling but a choice in response to unmerited grace.