When was the last time
you ever borrowed a book
from the library?
Perhaps you remember
being given a date
by which
you had to return the book.
But what if you hadn't finished it
by that date?
Well, then you'd pop along
to the library and ask
to renew it.
Then you'd be given
a new date
by which to return the book.
Your borrowing
of the book has been
reset.
Is this what St Paul means
when he tells us
to renew our minds?
[PAUSE]
The idea of renewal
that St Paul is using
is a return to an
uncorrupted state.
We see that our sins
leave a mark on how we think
and how we think
can lead us into sin.
As far as our thinking goes,
we have a vicious cycle
- quite literally -
sin begets a vice
and vice weakens our mind,
our mind cannot resist temptation
so we sin.
That first sin of Adam
kick starts the whole cycle:
we sin because Adam sinned
and weakened us
to sin further.
The corruption of our mind is clear,
and we cannot truly know
what is good while our minds
are in a fallen state.
But just how do we renew it?
We need to go back to the library.
[PAUSE]
St Paul tells us
that he speaks through Grace
- God's active presence working in us.
Our first grace of justification
occurs at our Baptism
when we are cleansed from sin
and incorporated
into Holy Church.
This is our first renewal.
But what then?
What about our sin after Baptism?
[PAUSE]
Our Lord sanctifies
the waters of Baptism
to make them
not just waters of repentance
but waters of life itself.
When we confess our sins
and repent of them
then the fountain of grace
that pours within us is made clean
and we return to "factory settings".
Renewing our minds
doesn't mean that we reject tradition
and the teaching of Holy Scripture
and the Fathers.
It doesn't mean that we need
to make new doctrines
for the present age.
To renew
means to go back,
back to the fountain,
back to the library of Faith,
back to those whose teaching
we need to refamiliarise
our minds.
We go back,
through the grace of God
given to us in our Baptism
and turn our minds
to Him
actively
wholeheartedly
and uncompromisingly.
The beauty of our Faith
is that God ALWAYS
gives us space to repent
no matter what we have done.
The opportunity to renew
and be renewed is always there
for us to grasp
in the sacraments
especially the Sacrament of Confession
which is there for our comfort
not our damnation
or judgement.
But we really must
want to be renewed
and take It seriously.
[PAUSE]
One day,
time will run out
when we will be renewed
no longer.
Our borrowed time will be finished
and we must return our books
to the library.
Our Lord,
however,
will make all things new in Him
and,
if we choose,
we can accept our final renewal
and enter into that new life
complete, whole and perfect.
And we won't have any fine to pay, either.
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