DAILY HOMILIES #repent

No matter what the past has been, now is the time to return back to God and this return must take place in your heart, not merely in your external appearance.

The beauty of St. Paul’s conversion was that the moment he rose from his feet, he never went back to his former ways. From that day, he saw himself as a completely different person.

In our Gospel passage today, Mark tells us that Jesus began his public ministry by preaching saying: “This is the time of fulfilment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” In other words, “today is all we have, this is the time, repent now and believe the Gospel.” In our first reading, we see a very similar message being preached by Jonah to the people of Nineveh: “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed.” In other words, there is no time, we cannot postpone repentance otherwise, we shall be destroyed. Even our Second reading today contains the same message: “The appointed time has grown very short…”