Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.
Repentance is a constant theme in the Christian life.
If there's no repentance, there is no Christian life.
So what is repentance?
Repentance is not just not just, but certainly is also saying sorry.
I'm sorry.
Repentant heart, so to speak.
But it is a recognition that there is something lacking in our lives if we rely simply on ourselves or on the natural means that are around us.
Repentance must flow from a recognition that there is not just a higher power,
not just some being within our universe or outside of our universe as well that can do all things and that made all things.
It's not enough.
Repentance must flow from the fact that this being that does exist, all powerful, all knowing, is in fact an all loving father.
Not only can he give us everything that we need and even everything that we want in accordance with his will,
but he wants to give us everything that we need and everything that is good for us.
When we come to this realization, we start to understand what the kingdom of heaven is all about.
And then we can begin to repent.
We start to realize, you know, well, if there is a God who loves me perfectly and wants nothing but the best for me,
then I should really try to get to know him.
I should really conform my life to what he says, to how he says I should live my life.
Because clearly, I'm not going to be able to receive everything that he gives me unless I'm in the right place and the right time, so to speak.
Place meaning not necessarily only physically, but most importantly, spiritually, to be in the right place with God.
And so this call, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand, is one which is constant in our lives.
The kingdom of heaven is close because the king has come.
There is no kingdom without a king.
The king, of course, is Christ.
So we need, in recognizing this truth about the king and our good God, who is our father,
he asks us to embrace the whole truth about himself, the whole truth about ourselves,
and the means by which him and I, him and we, can be reconciled and we can be together, so to speak.
The means that that happens, of course, is the cross.
The cross is the meeting point of God and man, if you will.
Of course, the incarnation is where God and man literally met.
But for us, we meet God at the cross.
St. Paul discovered this.
He discovered that the cross really is the only way to get to God, the only way to get to Christ, the sure way to get to God.
But, you know, if you remember from the Acts of the Apostles when he went to Greece,
he went to Athens and he preached this, I'm sure, very eloquent sermon about the philosophies and this, you know,
he had an altar of the unknown God and he was explaining how the unknown God is the God of the Hebrews,
the God of Christ, etc.
It was very, very eloquent, very informed, very philosophical, but only one person stayed behind afterwards,
which is not very good for St. Paul.
And he just said after that, you know, from then on, I decided that I shall preach the cross of Christ alone.
He says,
It was to preach the good news, not some kind of complicated philosophy.
Philosophy is important, by the way, and especially the young ones of which there is not too many of us here, but there is a few.
If they want to learn philosophy, please do, but philosophy alone is not enough.
The cross of Christ is the secret of our happiness, of our truth, and of our meeting with God.
And while the cross often signifies,
we only think that the cross is pain, suffering, difficulty, trial.
There's that aspect.
We can't escape that.
We all know that that is the case from experience in our lives.
But it is also hope, redemption, salvation.
If there's no cross, there is no eternal life.
That's the way it had to be after original sin, of course.
The cross is so much more than just pain.
You know, a lot of, even Christians, they say,
No, the cross isn't important.
It's all about the resurrection.
Absolutely, the resurrection, that is what, that is what is waiting for us at the end of the world, at the end of time.
But you can't get there except through there.
You know, there's no point, I'm going on holidays to Albany.
Well, how are you going to get there?
Well, the road's not important how I'm going to get there.
Of course the road's important.
The cross is our road to salvation, the road to the resurrection.
But the cross is not just any old road.
The road to Albany can be monotonous, long, and tiring.
The cross can be difficult to carry.
But if you've noticed, for those paying attention to the readings today, gospel, psalm, and first reading, there is a theme of light.
Light is mentioned in each one of us, in each one of us.
In Isaiah, he says,
The people who have walked in darkness have seen a great light.
In a responsorial psalm, the Lord is my light.
And then we hear again a repeat of the light in the gospel of Isaiah.
The people have seen a great light.
It is a cross which is our light.
It is that which glows.
You know, even throughout history, for example, Constantine, before he invaded Rome, what did he see?
A glowing cross in the sky.
By this sign, you will be victorious, was what he saw written in Latin.
Of course, because that's what he spoke.
And so the cross is our light, our guiding star towards salvation.
Our salvation towards union with God, our good God, our good God who calls us to repentance.
Too often we run from the cross.
And that's understandable.
And God gets it.
And he understands that.
No one would suffer for the sake of suffering itself.
If anyone says that, then there's some imbalance going on.
But when suffering comes our way, we do it for love of God, in imitation of Christ on
the cross.
Because we know, for the Christian, the cross and suffering are not the same.
They are not the same.
And suffering is not just not useless, it is actually very fruitful when done with the
Spirit of Christ and in union with him.
Let us therefore lift up our heads.
Let us embrace this light, this guiding light, which is the cross, which is a union with
Christ's suffering.
Let us repent.
Repent in all ways.
Repent in a mode of recognizing who God is, and therefore we may have to learn who he
is.
Pick up your catechism.
Pick up some holy books.
Look at what the Pope is saying, etc.
Pick up your Bible, of course.
We need to recognize who he is, and then we need to put it into practice.
And, of course, not forgetting the sacrament of repentance.
The sacrament of reconciliation, of which is always available to us as Christians.
Let us take advantage of that while we have time to reconcile ourselves to God.
And ask him for forgiveness for all the times when we have not just rejected the cross,
but maybe even despised it.
We pray, O Father.
Amen.
course to that one who who never uh tore herself away from the cross the blessed virgin who stayed
at the cross of her son can you imagine for those of you who have children or or loved ones
standing at the foot of someone standing next to someone who is being tortured basically
bleeding nails through hands and feet etc and you know all the sufferings of christ that you've heard
a hundred times before and the mother is standing there recognizing the supernatural operation which
is taking place and continually offering her son and her own sufferings to the father let us ask
her therefore that we with her and through her example may understand the great beauty the great
value of the cross in our lives that we may follow this light and become the saints that god
really desires us to be in the name of the father
and of the son and of the holy spirit amen