Repent and believe in the Gospel
Second Sunday of Lent (B)
On Ash Wednesday when the ashes are placed on our foreheads we heard the words, “Repent and believe in the Gospel”. These are words taken from the first announcement of Jesus as he began his public ministry.
He said that the time had come, the Kingdom of Heaven was close at hand. He urged people to respond in two ways: repent and believe.
The original message of Jesus lies at the heart of the message of the Church to the world today. It is will always be its essential message.
The Church calls people come to have faith in God, to orient their lives around God. The alternative is that we live our lives focussed on ourselves and on the material world around us. This is not the recipe for final and complete happiness.
The true and lasting source for human happiness is to be only found in God, who is our origin and our destiny.
Lent each year is a time for us to re-evaluate the quality of our Christian life. Yes, we can say we believe and we can say that we are seeking to live the Christian life, but the call to repentance and deeper faith remains valid for each of us.
It is so easy in the living of our daily life to gloss over our moments of sin. We can readily find a justification – ‘I was tired’, ‘I was provoked’, ‘I need some relief from the pressures of life’.
We can think that our sins are not really that serious and that we are basically alright. We drift into mediocracy and settle for lower personal standards.
We all need a moment when we can break these patterns that have developed. We need to choose to change for the better. Lent each year offers us this opportunity. It is truly a time of grace.
Something very special happens to us when we go to confession. We know that we have come before God who sees into our hearts.
In this moment we shed all our defences and excuses. We know God knows us as we actually are. All we can be is honest and open.
In this moment we humble ourselves before God and admit to our weakness and failure. In this moment all pretence falls away. Somehow this is actually wonderfully freeing. I don’t have to pretend I am someone I am not.
We also know that God does not stand in condemnation of us as we present ourselves before Him. He is our father, who longs for our good.
He does not intend to impose punishment, but allows mercy and forgiveness to flow. He wants to heal and restore the brokenness that is in each of us. He wants to bestow grace to bring about new life and hope.
In St Matthew’s Gospel Jesus, in one place, says that if we remember that we have something against a brother, then we should seek to be reconciled with our brother first before presenting our gift on the altar. (Mt 5:23-24).
You may remember the teaching. The next line is worth considering. Jesus says that we should seek reconciliation with our adversary before we reach the court, otherwise we will be severely punished.
Let us listen to Jesus’s words, “Come to terms with your opponent in good time while you are still on the way to the court with him, or he may hand you over to the judge and the judge to the officer, and you will be thrown into prison. I tell you solemnly you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.” (Mt 5:25-26)
We are being reminded that we have time now, here on earth, to be reconciled with God. But at the end of life we will stand before the judgement seat of God. It will then be too late. A judgement will be passed on us.
However, now we have time. Now we can set ourselves at right with God. This is the time of mercy. At the moment of our judgement it will be the time for justice to be done.
Lent is an opportunity each year for each of us to get back to basics. It is a time to look deep into ourselves. It is a time for us to know that we fall far short in fulfilling the great commandment that Jesus gave us of love of God and love of neighbour.
It is a time to do a very important thing that can release new grace in our lives – we need to go to confession.
This year the Archdiocese has set aside Friday, 22 March, as a ‘Day of Mercy’. Here in the parish there will be an extended time available for accessing the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
In the Gospel account of the transfiguration we heard God the Father give a very simple message to three chosen disciples: “This is my beloved Son, listen to him”.
As Lent is now underway for another year let us heed what Jesus said to us from the outset: “Repent and believe”.
Let us go to confession before Easter this year.
Archbishop Julian Porteous
Saturday, 24 February 2024.