“He who carries out one good deed acquires one advocate on his own behalf, and he who commits one transgression acquires one accuser against himself. Repentance and good works are like a shield against calamity.”
– The Talmud (200 ~ 500 CE) a compendium of oral Jewish law
“THESE ARE FACTS” – “If we are not sorry, and our conduct continues to harm others, we are quite sure to drink. We are not theorizing. These are facts out of our experience.” (The Big Books, p. 70 on repentance)
AND THE WILLINGNESS TO CHANGE – “Simply accepting the harm we caused increases our humility. Being ‘truly sorry’ is a clear indication that our self-centeredness has diminished. Willing to go to any lengths to change, we are newly inspired.” (It Works, How & Why, p. 58)
“He who carries out one good deed acquires one advocate in his own behalf, and he who commits one transgression acquires one accuser against himself. Repentance and good works are like a shield against calamity.”
– The Talmud (200 ~ 500 CE) a compendium of oral Jewish law
(I’m) Sorry – Buckcherry (3:40)
Why the Talmud is so Important (2:18)
Two-Day Truce Extension in Gaza – 2023 (1:48)
Sadhana Kriya Gifts of Repentance & Forgiveness LP Meditation (30:30)
What does repentance or being “truly sorry” mean to you?
Repentance Again
old women kneel in pews
dotted about the shadowed church
black splotches they float
among the incense clouds.
faces waxen like the flicker candles
raised, softened, in the stained glass light.
hands tightly curled into each other
black rosary beads clutched in woven need
black, black, scary black
repenting for the world of sin
carried in their voluminous souls.
timelessness pervades saturday confessions
it is all the days and nights of transgressions
large and small they roll down
the passages of life
to be laid at the feet of god
well oiled with words of penance.
ritual, mea culpa, contrition chanted.
scrubbed clean as their kitchens,
one by one they arise, genuflect
and disappear into secularity.
by PATRICIA CRESSWELL
