Repent and Believe

Homily for Tuesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Our Gospel today paints a pretty bleak picture for the people of the towns where Jesus has been preaching and performing so many of His miracles. But it points to something that Jesus has time and again called people out for throughout the Gospels.

So many of the people in these villages have seen exactly what Jesus is capable of and they still don’t get the message. They still can’t bring themselves to recognize Him as the Savior. They still can’t bring themselves to integrate His message into the very depths of their hearts. They still can’t bring themselves to heed His message to repent and believe in the Gospel.

How do we do the same? What areas of our lives are we not allowing the message of the Lord to seep into? In what ways are we not repenting?

All of us have seen miracles, whether we recognize them or not. All of us have been on the receiving end of Jesus’ healing, of His embrace, of His love. And yet, all of us have areas of our hearts where we still turn away from the Lord. If that weren’t the case, we wouldn’t need the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

This morning, we are going to witness the greatest miracle of all – simple bread and wine are going to be transformed into the very Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Himself. As we come forward to receive Him in the Eucharist, let’s allow that miracle to truly transform us. Let’s give the Lord our whole hearts, inviting Him into those areas of our hearts that we have kept hidden from Him.

The Lord wants to bring us to a moment of conversion; He wants to bring us to wholeness so that we can experience the fullness of life. May we no longer be complacent; may we no longer be satisfied with simply living the status quo. If we don’t give the Lord our whole hearts, we may also be the ones who hear this message from the Lord: “Woe to you.”

Eternal life is at stake. If we all strive to do our best to give the Lord everything, He will meet us there and lead us to a dwelling with Him in Heaven. But we have to commit to that each and every day. Let’s renew that commitment this morning and ask the Lord to always be with us.

Photo: Jametlene Reskp on Unsplash. Used under Unsplash license.