“Tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.”
Iwas 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.
The Israelites had lost their country, independence, and temple. They are looking back in regret and blaming God for their condition and even accusing Him of being unfair to them, “Thus said the Lord: You say, ‘The Lord’s way is not fair.’” They probably erroneously believed that, since they were in a tradition of collective responsibility where personal responsibility did not count, they could easily blame their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents, or even God, for their pitiable condition. That is what happens when we live in regret – we spend all our time and energy looking for someone else to blame for our own choices.
God responds by reminding them of their individual personal responsibilities for their actions and the consequences of their free choices. He also points them to the new beginning and deeper life with Him that He offers each one of them despite their past rebellion, “If one turns from the wickedness he has committed, and does what is right and just, he shall preserve his life.” Divine goodness will provide for them opportunities for a deeper life with God through their free choices in accord with His will.
The psalmist in Ps 25:4-9 looks back at his sins and pleads for mercy, “The sins of my youth and my frailties remember not.” He does not wallow in past regrets but looks forward to the new life that God offers to him, “Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior…Good and upright is the Lord, thus He shows sinners the way.” We see that divine mercy does not just forgive sins but also continuously teaches us and bestows strength for a deeper life with God. Why would anyone choose to live in regrets in the face of such divine goodness?
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