“…many people today proudly ignore God…or we expect God to be at our beck-and-call… or…we dismiss repentance as something arcane, guilt-inducing, and in no way applicable to us.” (Dynamis 7/1/2014)
“Confession is in decline and repentance is misapprehended. The decline and the misapprehension cannot be easily qualified, but they are unmistakable at least inasmuch as they are considered to be no more than incidental practices in the life of the Church today. The "traditional" way of thinking of sin and forgiveness has collapsed among a growing number of Christians…Repentance is indeed an act of reconciliation, of reintegration into the Body of Christ, which has been torn asunder by sin.” (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese)
“…those who think of themselves as good people have a harder time repenting than those who know they aren’t good people.” (Father Barnabas Powell)
“The foremost obstacle to life-giving repentance is to reject the word of the Lord (Jeremiah 8:9). Since the law of God is “a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my paths” (Ps 118:105), we find ourselves thrust into a dark abyss of ignorance when we reject His word. This fatal error has despoiled creation ever since Adam and Eve rejected God’s word in favor of the serpent’s devious sales pitch. How ready we are to believe that we might “be like gods, knowing good and evil” (Gn 3:6)!” (Dynamis 2/20/2019)
“Do not say to yourself, in your despair and spiritual paralysis: ‘I fell into heavy sins. I acquired sinful habits through a long sinful life. With time, they have become like congenital defects. They have made repentance impossible for me.’ These dark thoughts are inspired by your enemy, whom you still do not understand. He knows the power of repentance, and he fears that it will tear you from his grasp. Therefore, he tries to distract you from repentance, ascribing weakness to God’s all-powerful treatment.” (St. Ignatii Brianchaninov)