It’s a convenient, easy, worldly and “New-Agie” thing to do—making God “easy to get along with” or viewing him in a “nice” unchallenging way. But it’s not a virtuous or spiritually intelligent thing to do. It’s not a wise thing to do. Nor is it a loving thing to do. Worse yet, it can lead to the sin of scandal.
Repentance
Repentance: Conforming One’s Life to Reality
When Christ began his ministry he announced: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt 3:2, Mk 1:15). Our Lord’s words connect the necessity of repentance with obtaining the promise of unending happiness and joy found in God alone and life in his kingdom.
Faith and Repentance: The Doorway to The Kingdom of God
In today’s gospel, Jesus exorcises the demoniacs, and then drives the demon-infested swine heard into the sea, demonstrating his divine power over Satan’s evil kingdom.
Third Sunday of Lent: Repentance In The Desert
It is important to understand that sin and God’s holiness are incompatible. There is a radical conflict between the total and infinite purity, goodness, perfection and holiness of God, and the horrid, empty, constrictive and dark nature of sin. Every sin is an attack against God, his purity, holiness and truth. At the heart of sin is always a disordered self-love, a pride which seeks to suppress the truth about God and supplant the Creator with the creature.
Repent, For the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand
The immediate response to the gaze of Jesus Christ by Peter, Andrew, James and John signals the fact that a radical change took place within their hearts. That moment, there on the shore of the sea, was no ordinary moment. The fishermen were not simply willing to let go of their way of life and the past, but actively desired to do so. More to the point, they hungered for a new life. They sensed, by God’s grace working in their souls, that this new life is itself Jesus Christ.