The Pastoral Care That Leads to Repentance
First: Making a Person Aware of His Sin
The lecture confirms that the first step in pastoral care that leads to repentance is that a person knows that he has sinned. Many people sin and do not admit their sin, or see themselves as righteous in their own eyes, which makes leading them to repentance difficult. Therefore, pastoral care needs wisdom and patience in making a person aware of his sin, whether through a general approach from which he picks up the message, or through a private confrontation according to the nature of the person.
Also, the father of confession faces difficulties when the confessor does not mention everything, or when the father knows matters from other sources and cannot declare them. Therefore, he sometimes resorts to indirect teaching, or general sermons, or awakening the conscience, while taking care not to wound feelings or expose privacy.
Second: Treating Dominant and Beloved Sins
The lecture speaks about beloved, dominant, or repeated sins, which may become a habit or a nature in a person. Treating these sins is not only by prohibition or rebuke, but by bringing the love of God into the heart, because when the love of God enters the heart it drives out the love of sin.
The matter also sometimes requires firmness mixed with love, because constant leniency may lead to negligence, while wise firmness helps a person awaken spiritually. The father of confession must treat the causes and roots, not only the results.
Third: The Importance of Changing the Spiritual Environment
Among the important means in pastoral care is changing the environment in which a person lives, because a person adapts to the surrounding atmosphere. If he moves away from the environment that encourages him to sin, and adapts to a new spiritual environment, this helps him to repent and to continue in repentance.
Fourth: The Balance Between Wisdom and Experience
Pastoral care requires both wisdom and experience. A priest may be wise even if newly ordained, and with practice his experience increases. What matters is that his goal is treatment, not control, and that he speaks in generalities without revealing secrets or embarrassing anyone.
Fifth: Repentance Needs Continuous Care
Repentance is not a temporary event, but needs care so that it may be stable and continuous. A person may repent for a short period and then return, therefore he needs spiritual follow-up, spiritual exercises, and strengthening by the love of God, so that his repentance may be established.
The general message of the lecture is that leading a person to repentance requires wisdom, patience, love, firmness, treating the roots, and bringing the love of God into the heart so that repentance may become a stable way of life.
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