This weekend the Church begins a five week sequence of Gospel stories which are meant to help us understand the idea of metanoia (repentance), the activity that we are especially called to engage in   during the 40 days of the Great Fast (Lent). The Church’s deep psychological insight into human nature; her knowledge of man’s difficulty to concentrate for any length of time; the frightening “worldliness” of human life; and man’s inability to embrace personal change, she invites us to think about and reflect upon why she encourages us to embrace the Great Fast. The Church knows that before we can practice Lent, we must truly understand the meaning and purpose of Lent.

While metanoia must be integrated into the life of any Christian, the Church calls us to make a special effort during Lent to engage in this spiritually transformative process.

So the quest we begin this week is one of discovering the true characteristics of metanoia. It is a process that can help us become more keenly aware of the actual presence, here and now, of the Kingdom of Heaven (God).

The Great Lent is given to us each year as an opportunity to become aware again of God’s promise to us of eternal life. The practices connected with achieving true metanoia can prepare us to celebrate God’s revelation to us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Think about the story of Zacchaeus. What does this story about him tell us about metanoia? Indeed the story highlights his desire to see Jesus. He was willing to risk being ridiculed by his peers for foolishly climbing a sycamore tree in order to get a glimpse of Jesus. He had heard about Jesus and felt that somehow Jesus was special and could help him as he struggled through life.

The first characteristic of metanoia is the desire to become all we can be as human beings – to see God’s revelation about human life in the Person of Jesus – the desire to believe that Jesus can help us with life’s struggles.

We know this to be true: humans follow their desires. There is a fundamental psychological truth about human nature captured in the Gospel: Where your treasure is, there shall your heart be. A strong desire overcomes our human limitations. When a person truly and passionately desires something, he will do everything in his power to achieve his desires.

So, the process of metanoia begins when we truly desire to follow Jesus, believing that His teachings can help us to live life. This means that we must desire to reform our thinking and behavior and commit ourselves to become more like Jesus. He truly showed Himself to be Christ, the Anointed One, by desiring to do all in His power to think and act like the Father’s Son. Metanoia means having a true desire to think and act like a child of the heavenly Father as modeled for us by Jesus.

Ask yourself: Do I truly desire to be a child of God, to be like Jesus?