Tag Archives: repentance

Lent Day 17: What about our tenancy?

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TODAY’S READINGS

Today’s Gospel (Mt 21:33-43, 45-46) is the Parable of the Wicked Tenants; it starts out this way:

“There was a landowner who planted a vineyard,
put a hedge around it,
dug a wine press in it, and built a tower.
Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey.” (v. 33)

“Just before his Passion and death, Jesus tells the striking story of the landowner who planted a vineyard. The fertile vineyard stands for Israel, his chosen people. But it could be broadened out to include the world. What do we learn from this beautiful image? That God has made for his people a place where they can find rest, enjoyment, and good work.

“We — Israel, the Church, the world — are not the owners of this vineyard; we are tenants. One of the most fundamental spiritual mistakes we can make is to think that we own the world. We are tenants, entrusted with the responsibility of caring for it, but everything that we have and are is on loan. Our lives are not about us.

“Christ is God’s judgment. We are all under his judgment. In the measure that we reject him or refuse to listen to him, we place our tenancy in jeopardy. And so the great question that arises from this reading: How am I using the gifts that God gave me for God’s purposes? My money? My time? My talents? My creativity? My relationships? All is for God, and thus all is under God’s judgment.” (The Word on Fire Bible: The Gospels, 131)

Bishop Barron makes an excellent point: How good stewards are we of all that God has given us? We will be accountable for all we do (and all we neglect to do). What inheritance can we hope for if we abuse our free will time and again, ultimately killing the life of the Son within us?

Time, talent, and treasure. If we don’t have all three, we may have two, and certainly have one.

“[Y]our light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.” (Mt 5:16)

Let us reflect the Light of the World (see John 8:12) in our own selves, thus bringing light and life to others.

A MILESTONE!

This is my 1000th post on WordPress! An auto-generated post when I signed up in 2009 is followed up by my first post in 2012, introducing myself. The third post is the first with substantial content. Links for all three allow for a dash into the past:

Thanks for reading!

God bless.

Lent Day 8: Signs, signs

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TODAY’S READINGS

From today’s Gospel (Lk 11:29-32), hitting a chord:

“This generation is an evil generation;
it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it,
except the sign of Jonah.” (v. 29)

“Seeking a sign is an indication that ‘this generation is an evil generation.’ The phrase likens the Israelites of his day who reject him (see 17:25) to the evil generation that wandered in the wilderness and failed to enter the promised land (Num 32:13; Deut 1:35). Earlier, Jesus had criticized ‘this generation’ of his contemporaries for failing to respond to him and John (Luke 7:31; see 9:41). Here Jesus speaks six times against ‘this generation’ (11:29-32, 50-51). Because he is being rejected, Jesus frequently warns ‘this generation’ about the coming judgment (see 10:13-14; 11:19), when others will join together to condemn it for failing to hear and repent.” (The Gospel of Luke (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture, 228)

“The expression ‘this generation’ can simply refer to those who are alive at the time of Jesus (see 21:32), but it often has the connotation of those who respond negatively to him (see 7:31-34; 17:25), as is the case here. This generation is ‘an evil generation’ because ‘it seeks a sign.’ After seeing Jesus free a man from a demon, some ‘to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven’ (11:160 to prove that he expelled demons by the power of God. It should be evident that Jesus is on God’s side, if he frees men and women from the grip of evil. It should also be evident that God has endowed Jesus with power, if he is overcoming the forces of Satan and healing afflictions. To demand anything more to authenticate Jesus reveals a hostile skepticism, a refusal to believe.” (Bringing the Gospel of Luke to Life, 325-26)

An evil generation may demand a sign, but maybe more evil is the current generation that is not even interested in a sign, since an exponentially growing number of persons do not believe in God, anyway. Who is the Jonah today that will convince our world to repent of its evil ways (see Jonah 3)? Unfortunately for many, repentance requires hearing, and so many of us are tuned out. Would we even notice the sign or hear the Word?

Let us pray fervently that God will send the sort of prophet who, like Jonah, in one sentence, softens hearts and has their owners cry bitter tears of repentance.

Jonah Preaches to the Ninevites (17th c.) by Andrea Vaccaro

God bless.

Lent Day 4: Good Dr. Jesus

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TODAY’S READINGS

The immediate aftermath of the calling of Levi (Lk 5:27-32) gives Jesus an opportunity to impart an important principal on the judgmental Pharisees:

“Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.
I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.” (vv. 31-32)

“Jesus did not come to perpetuate Old Covenant standards of righteousness, which were designed to separate Israel from the sins and uncleanness of their Gentile neighbors (Lev 20:26). Jesus brings a new standard of righteousness that tears down the wall that barricades Israel from other nations, as he stretches the boundaries of God’s covenant family to include everyone in need of mercy, even tax collectors and sinners.” (The Gospel of Luke [The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible], 30-31)

“This implies that the sin is the real illness and that ‘tax collectors and sinners’ are the sick who need healing:’I saw their ways, / but I will heal them’ (Isa 57:18). Jesus has just taught this lesson by forgiving the paralyzed man’s sins before healing him physically. By eating with tax collectors and sinners (see Luke 7:34; 15:1-2; 19:5), Jesus does not condone their sins but calls them to repentance. At the end of the Gospel, Jesus will commission his disciples to continue this mission by proclaiming repentance and the forgiveness of sins (24:47).” (The Gospel of Luke [Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture], 120)

“[Jesus] eating with sinners is part of his mission. He does not simply preach to them but associates with them and draws them into fellowship with himself. He has come to call sinners to repentance — to profoundly reformed lives, a reorientation of their thinking and behavior. repentance is not a precondition for associating with Jesus but a consequence of it.” (Bringing the Gospel of Luke to Life, 152)

It seems to me, the biggest problem the Pharisees had is they thought they were righteous. Had they been paying an iota of prayerful attention to Jesus teaching (and certainly they knew it, since they were constantly following Him and looking for ways to accuse Him, denounce Him, and trap Him), they would have come to realize that none are completely righteous — we all are sinners. Yes, some may be in ICU, others in an urgent care, and still others with just a nagging cold, but we all need the Divine Physician to heal us. Self-righteous and judgmental the Pharisees were; what they especially needed was open-heart surgery to give God — who they claimed to know yet missed Him in their midst — access to enter them and transform them.

And so we should also allow the Lord to work on us. Let us go to Dr. Jesus for the diagnosis (we can go daily and it’s free — no costly health insurance required). Following His prescription, we are assured of the prognosis: eternal beatitude.

For related information, check out my friend Mike Aquilina’s article. Even better, dive into a full-length treatment from him, The Healing Imperative.

REMINDER

My daily ten-minute Eucharist for Lent vidcasts continue today, where we continue looking at the CCC, this time focusing on the Last Supper. Also mentioned: an article encouraging us to look at Lent through a Eucharistic lens.

God bless.

Advent Day 8: God’s Patience, Our Repentance

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TODAY’S READINGS

The second reading is from 2 Pt 3:8-14 . “Repentance” is the key word today.

The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard “delay,”
but he is patient with you,
not wishing that any should perish
but that all should come to repentance. (v. 9)

“The purpose of this ‘delay’ is salvation: the Lord is showing great patience, postponing the day of judgment, because he desires that all should repent and that none should perish. We can hear an echo of John 3:17 here: ‘For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be save through him.’

“What is the Lord’s disposition toward the human race? He is being ‘patient.’ The verb is in the present active tense, indicating ongoing, active patience by the Lord. He is giving space for all to come to repentance, Along with 1 Tim 2:4, this is one of the strongest biblical assertions of God’s universal desire that all come to salvation. The Lord takes no pleasure in the death of he wicked, but desires repentance (Ezek 18:23); his kindness is meant to lead to repentance (Rom 2:4), and he waits to have mercy on all (Rom 11:32).” (Daniel Keating, First and Second Peter, Jude [Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture], 180-181)

Today’s Gospel gives us the opening verses of Mark (1:1-8). Continuing our repentance theme:

John the Baptist appeared in the desert
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (v. 4)

“Repentance (Greek metanoia) means literally ‘a change of mind.’ Like the prophets of old (see Isa 55:7; Jer 18:11; Zech 1:4) John was calling Israel to a wholehearted return to the Lord, a deep interior conversion through the acknowledgment of their sinful state and their need for forgiveness. The time of complacency and human self-sufficiency was over; the time to turn back to God in humble contrition had arrived. Although John’s message was hardly a soothing one, it met a spiritual hunger in the people, attracting crowds throughout Judea.” (Mary Healy, The Gospel of Mark [Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture], 32)

“The Greek word for repentance that is used here means a changing of one’s mind. It also means a feeling of remorse, an undergoing of conversion, or a changing of one’s behavior. We often focus on the aspects of remorse and behavioral change when we think of repentance. Sometimes what is needed is a change of thinking and fundamental outlook if our remorse and changed behavior are to have lasting results.” (George Martin, Bringing the Gospel of Mark to Life: Insight & Inspiration, 7)

“The baptism given by the Precursor was not Christian Baptism; it was a penitential rite; but it prefigured the dispositions needed for Christian baptism — faith in Christ, the Messiah, the source of grace, and voluntary detachment from sin.” (The Navarre Bible: St. Mark, 66)

Thank God that He doesn’t have my patience or many of us would be doomed. Our task is not to try His patience until our end so that in the end we well be welcomed home.

BP BARRON SERMON

WORD OF THE LORD exposition

Registration required but well worth it.

St. John the Baptist by El Greco (1597-1603)