Embracing Compunction: Poking Holes in Certain of Self

This homily challenges us to confront two dangerous forms of certainty that can derail our spiritual journey. The first is the certainty of destination—the false comfort that God's love means we can coast through life without genuine faithfulness. The second, perhaps more insidious, is the certainty of self—the illusion that our acts of faithfulness are pure and untainted by sin. Drawing from Jeremiah 4's powerful imagery of de-creation, where God reverses the very order of Genesis, we're confronted with an uncomfortable truth: even our best efforts at building a faithful life will undergo painful purification. The mountains flow like water, the fruitful places are destroyed, and the cities we've built crumble. Yet remarkably, God promises not to make a full end. Saint Paul echoes this in 1 Corinthians, describing how fire will test our works—some built of gold and silver, others of hay and stubble. The Desert Fathers understood this reality deeply, teaching their disciples to 'sit in their cells and weep for their sins.' This isn't despair about God's love, but grief that we have nothing pure to offer back to the God who loves us so profoundly. This mourning—what the Greeks called penthos—becomes the surprising foundation for joy, humility, and genuine virtue. When we stop covering our inadequacies with fig leaves of excuse and cosmetic righteousness, when we join God in poking holes in our inflated egos through compunction, we discover something beautiful: our tears water the soil where true faithfulness grows.