The essential condition for being called by Jesus is to be a sinner.
And in truth, since Adam’s fall, all men are such; but only those who have the humility to acknowledge this and who feel the need for salvation are fitted to respond to the Lord’s call.
Indeed, he calls us with a definite purpose: to do penance and be converted.
Whoever thinks himself just, and does not admit his need of conversion, by that very fact closes his heart to the grace of salvation.
This sin of spiritual pride, the most insidious of all sins, can sometimes take root even in “devout persons”.
But the man who is sincerely humble and knows that he belongs in the ranks of the sick and sinners, can be sure he will not be shunned by Christ; in fact Christ seeks out such to heal and convert and free from sin. It was just for this that he came.
Penance, essentially, always requires a change of life: from sin to virtue, lukewarmness to fervor, fervor to sanctity. This interior change cannot be effected without divine help, but the Lord is not stingy in this regard, and even as he is calling a man to penitence, he is offering the grace necessary for this conversion.
For the Christian, to heed the call to do penance and to open his heart to the grace of conversion, means living his baptism.
“For you have died” says St. Paul (Col 3: 3): it is the death of a profound renunciation of selfishness, pride, greed, sensuality; in a word, it is death to self in order to live fully the new life of a creature completely raised up in him who died and rose again for the salvation of all mankind.
This is the real meaning of penance, of conversion, and therefore of the renunciation which they require. The Christian does not deny himself nor renounce himself for the pleasure of renouncing or of dying, but for the joy of living in Christ, of fulfilling himself completely by participating in the resurrection of his Lord.
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