January 25, 2009 Third Ordinary Sunday of the Year Jonah 3:1-5, 10; 1 Cor. 7:29-31; Mk. 1:14-20 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________   Readings: http://www.catholicdoors.com/homilies/2009/090125.htm          ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________     Mark separates the ministry of Jesus from that of John, so only after the arrest of John does Jesus begin his ministry in earnest. John's function, therefore, is to prepare the way for Jesus' coming. Mark also differentiates Jesus' message from John's. John calls for repentance in the face of the coming-one who brings with him the cleansing Spirit. This call finds fulfilment in Jesus who communicates the "gospel", or "good news." The word actually means "important message" and it is either good news, or bad news, depending on how we respond to it.   The first word of the preaching of Jesus is linked with readiness to believe: "Repent and believe the Good News". The imperative put by Christ flows from realization of the fact that "the time is fulfilled". The fulfilment of God's time becomes a summons to conversion, which is in the first place an effect of grace. It is the Spirit who impels each of us to "return into ourselves" and to see the need to go back to the Father's house (cf. Lk 15:17-20). Examination of conscience is therefore one of the most decisive moments of life. It places each individual before the truth of his own life. Thus he discovers the distance which separates his deeds from the ideal which he had set himself.   "Repent and believe". The message demands a response. The call for repentance is similar to John's call. Membership in the coming kingdom demands a turning toward the living God. It is a turning back to God, a conversion. The response also involves belief: faith, dependence on, firm reliance on, a reliance on the gospel for salvation.   Repentance requires a life change, a change of mind, sorrow for sin and its consequences, a hatred of sin and a firm resolution to avoid it in the future. The Lord gives us grace to see sin for what is really is -- a rejection of his love and wisdom and a refusal to do what is good and in accord with his will. His grace brings pardon and help for turning away from everything that would keep us from his love. To believe is to take Jesus at his word and to recognize that God loved us so much that he sent his only begotten Son to free us from bondage to fear and sin. God made the supreme sacrifice of his Son on the cross to bring us back to himself.  God loved us first and he invites us in love to surrender our lives to him.  Do you believe that the gospel has power to free you from bondage to fear and sin?   <<   Previous: Second Ordinary Sunday of the Year  | Next: Fourth Ordinary Sunday of the Year >>   Go Back to SERMONS (Year B)