When you feel guilty towards loved ones, you know what to do - come up and ask for forgiveness. The feeling of guilt before God is quite another matter. How and with what words to ask for forgiveness from the Lord?
Guilt before God: why it arises
Before answering the question of how to beg forgiveness from God for your sins, you need to understand where the feeling of guilt comes from. Is this the very feeling of guilt the repentance to which the saints are constantly calling?
It has been noticed that difficult conditions, when you want to turn to God, do not arise from the mind (that is, not at those moments when you understand that you have formally violated some point of the commandment), but by inspiration. When it becomes hard not for the mind, but for the soul.
The saints call this state the “breaking” of the soul with the Lord. And the holy fathers define sin not as some formal offense for which a person must be punished. This perception of sin is very shallow, and rather characteristic of Catholicism. Sin in the concept of the holy fathers is the breaking of the soul with God. This is an act that deprives a person of harmony at the deepest level. The saints knew how to listen to themselves and their souls very well and “caught” sins in their very beginnings. People living in the world realize that there is no harmony in the soul, it is too late, only when a state comes when there is no one else to turn to. In such a state, I want to ask God for forgiveness.
How to take the path of repentance
There are two approaches to repentance. The first approach is characteristic of the Russian Orthodox tradition - this is rather emotional repentance, which is best described by the word “contrition”. But many saints say that contrition and lamentation in themselves are not repentance. That truly "forgiveness of the soul" comes when the soul acquires the determination to live in a new way. When a person in his actions "gets on a new track", he decides to start a new life.
In the Greek tradition (which is older than the Russian Orthodox tradition and is considered a kind of standard in the Orthodox world), repentance is no longer perceived as contrition, but as a determination to start living differently. Even the word "repentance" among the Greeks is called "metanoia" - translated into Russian "rebirth", "change in the way of thinking." According to the Greeks, a firm determination to continue not to do the same as before and to begin to live according to conscience and in God's Harmony is the best repentance and the best purification of the soul.
For those who decide to embark on the path of repentance, there are some simple tips to give. Start going to church if you've never done it before, or attend services more often if you've usually done it 1-2 times a year. Sometimes it doesn't hurt to leave for a secluded place, for example, to some quiet monastery, where you can think about your life, reconsider some actions. Do not neglect the Sacrament of Confession in the church. If you have never confessed, do not hesitate to ask the priest to tell you how the Sacrament takes place.
In general, the very word "forgiveness" in relation to the Lord is best defined as the restoration of harmony and connection with God. This is the best forgiveness. And it achieves not only with tears and prayer, but also with a strong determination to change itself, its way of thinking and its life. Where desire and faith are, there is God's forgiveness.
