"From the beginning of His public ministry, Jesus called the people to conversion:  'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel' (Mk 1: 15).  This call is an essential element in the proclamation of the good news.  Not only is it addressed to those who do not know Christ and His gospel, but it continues to resound in the lives of Christians..."  Robert Cardinal Sarah
     In this Sunday's gospel we hear about the start of the public mission and ministry of Christ:  "Jesus began to preach and say, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" (Mt 4: 17)  The word "REPENT" is not popular today, for it calls each of us to examine our lives, acknowledge our sins, and change our way of thinking and living.  We are called to live in conformity with Christ and the Gospel. Furthermore, Jesus calls us to Conversion not just once or on one occasion, but throughout our lives.  To quote from Cardinal Sarah once more:  "This ongoing conversion is the ceaseless work of the whole Church...' (as stated in Vatican II's Lumen gentium, 8) 'The Church... clasping sinners to her bosom, at once holy and always in need of purification, follows constantly the path of penance and renewal.'"   
     Though the idea of Repentance may not be popular, genuine Renewal is NOT possible without Repentance.  As Benedict XVI put it:  "Conversion means swimming against the tide, where the 'tide' is the superficial lifestyle, inconsistent and deceptive, that often sweeps us along, overwhelms us and makes us slaves to evil or at any rate prisoners of moral mediocrity.  With CONVERSION (emphasis added), on the other hand, we are aiming for the high standard of Christian living... to the living and personal Gospel with Jesus Christ.  He is our final goal..."  Too often today, even from within the Church, we are invited to embrace a "Moral Mediocrity" that is passed off as "updated' and 'progressive", but is uninspiring and unsatisfying!  Though challenging, Genuine Renewal through repentance and the grace of God, liberates us from the chains of selfishness, pettiness, bigotry, arrogance, and dishonesty.  
     As Christ calls us to repentance He also calls each of us, "Come with me!" (Mt 4: 19), just as He called Peter and Andrew, James and John.  To accompany Christ is to change course.  As we listen to the Gospel message, we become aware of the junk in our lives, the accumulated clutter of sin, and how we are called and empowered by Christ to live differently.  As St. Paul puts it dramatically in Romans 6: 17 - 19:  "But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness...  For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification."   As we continue through 2023, together let us Embrace the Grace of Repentance and Conversion to Christ.  Using the Sacraments of Confession and Holy Eucharist, we can get rid of the dead weight of sin, abandon moral mediocrity, and continue onward and upward with Christ, on the journey to the Kingdom of God!    

Fr. Francis P. Foley