A Life of Repentance

In one of the scenes of a film adapted from a novel by the Portuguese writer José Maria de Eça de Queiroz, the protagonist appears alongside another girl helping her teach children in the church to memorize the Ten Commandments. When they reach the commandment "Thou shalt not commit adultery", the two girls get interrupted by a child asking the protagonist to explain to him the meaning of the commandment. The protagonist glanced at her neighbor with a look that held more than one meaning. Then she turned to the boy and replied: "It means: do not eat meat during Holy Week"! Those who have watched the film or read the novel do not see in the answer a girl evading talking to a child about something he is still young to understand, but rather, evading a God Who makes people, young and old, utter words in order to prompt her to repent of the sin that led her into in the embrace of her parish priest. The priest not only renounced the meanings of the word before she did, but rather also made them serve his own desires. There is no meaning to anything unless we all beware of the evil of this estrangement from the Word that is always calling us to a life of repentance.
February 09
A Suggested Activity
I am not seeking to spoil activities that you love in this cold season, the beautiful winter season in our country, if I earmarked these words for you. You want to keep going to the mountains, go ahead, do it. Be close to the majestic peaks crowned with white by God’s handiwork. Do not skimp on yourself. Engage in the hobbies you love... Be joyful. I only suggest that you add to what you want, sending a thick blanket to a child, shivering from the cold, living in a dilapidated house or whose parents lay him down to sleep on the bare ground in one of the deserts. He who serves joy knows the value of joy.