Contrition


It is always interesting to read about wrongdoers, to see whether their apology, if they offer one,is sincere. Almost always it is not. Caught red-handed, they still try to save face by glossing over the true nature of the deed. In so doing they only dig their holes deeper. 

This is the case with Rep. Charles Rangel, who has been recommended for censure by the House ethics committee. Many in the news media made note that indeed he did apologize -- but did he really? All he actually said was that he regretted embarrassing Congress, and that he was sorry he failed to follow the rules. 

"There is no excuse for my acts of omission and failures to abide by the rules of Congress," he told the committee. "I have made many mistakes that I will forever regret, and I apologize for them."

Read the list of violations, though, and it's clear that they come from the cunning abuse of power, not "sloppy record-keeping," as Rangel insisted during the investigation. If Rangel, 80, really wants to spend the remainder of his time on earth trying to "help people and and thank God for what he's given to me," as he tearily told the committee, he will bring before God a pure and contrite heart.

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me," the psalmist sings (Psalm 51:10). "The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O  God, you will not despise." (Psalm 51:17).

The word "contrite" comes from the Latin contrītus, "worn down, crushed." It is one of the essential truths of the Christian life that we are restored only through our brokenness. Privately, Rangel's heart may indeed be crushed. But since he is a public servant, only when he acknowledges this in the public forum can healing occur. 

"Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice." (Psalm 51:8)

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