Reflection for Tuesday of the First Week of Ordinary Time

Today's readings are here: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/011012.cfm

In today's Gospel, Jesus begins to preach the good news that the Kingdom of God has come near and that repentance is required to enter the Kingdom. To understand what repentance is, we need to look at the four disciples in today's Gospel. When Jesus called them, they abandoned everything to follow him.  From this example, we learn that repentance is not solely an intellectual act, that is, it is not something we do only in the mind. It is nothing less than the total gift of self given to Christ who, in his love, has given his total self to us. As such, repentance includes the whole person: mind, will/heart, and body.


In addition, because we are not sinlessly perfect, we need to make repentance a way of life rather than something we do once and never need to do again. Through sin, we back off of our commitment to give our total selves to Christ; and repentance is the path by which we renew our commitment.


The Kingdom of God, which is Christ and his love, has come near us: in the crucifixion, in the sacraments, and in every good thing in our lives.  Therefore, let us abandon those things that keep us from fully responding to Christ's love with the gift of our total selves.