Then and only then will the word - REPENT mean something

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the Gospel of Luke Jesus echoing the message of John the Baptist - Repent!….."Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes”……Many very sincere people in the Christian world today speak about Jesus Christ…They quote the Bible endlessly….They email Catholic memes on social media endlessly…....They host podcasts and radio shows, me being one of them….All that being said…the essence of the Gospel message comes down to one word before the intent of Jesus’s message penetrates deep into our hearts - That one word is REPENT……This message is also stated very clearly right from Jesus’s own mouth in the Gospel of Mark….”After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel”….The words of Christ will make absolutely no sense if we first do not repent……There is a lot of talk about "accompaniment" in the Catholic Church today…...And while it is very important to be friends with all kinds of people, saints and sinners alike - Are we losing focus of the message of Christ himself? - Repent and Believe in the Gospel - Not “my gospel” - The Gospel…..A half truth is a whole lie…..To pretend something is not a sin in order to “accompany” a person into the Catholic Church will never work……There are times in life when friends know where each other stand on a certain matter, and they simply agree to disagree…And in the process they remain friends - Nothing wrong with that!….But not telling a friend the entire truth and “thinking” that “somehow” you are “accompanying” them in their walk towards Christ is a fools errand….Jesus was friends with sinners…Scripture said he ate with them……Scripture did not say, Jesus condoned the sins themselves…Also, Jesus was also very clear…He addressed sin as it was…..He did not tell half-truths - And nor should we as Catholics…..Now that does not mean you cannot be friends with others who do not embrace the Catholic faith in its entirety - Actually, its just the opposite, we MUST be friends with them…However, all people should know exactly where you stand and what you believe and if your life mirrors your beliefs by the way you live day in and day out….While some people many not agree with you, they will respect you…And in time, they may even change their mind…..That is the real way to “accompany” a person into the Catholic Church…..Don’t get lost in the weeds

“If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”

In his 2013 document Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), Pope Francis wrote that the Church "grows not by proselytism but by attraction”….What does that mean?….It means we Catholics need to practice what we preach - And that only can happen if we live a life animated by Sacramental grace and daily prayer….That is how we bring people into the Church - Pope Francis is spot on!….We will never “argue” anyone into the doors of the Catholic Church!…..However, the true meaning of what Pope Francis said can and in many cases got twisted by some who had various “agendas” - Let’s be honest…….Jesus had only one agenda as we heard today in the Gospel……..Repent - The Kingdom of God is at hand - And then believe in the Gospel!……The greatest example of what Pope Francis said - That I have ever seen was and is given by the Missionaries of Charity…..I have witnessed with my own two eyes people, who lived very sinful lives, come into the Church and repent due to the radical love they experienced and witnessed from the sisters……When I served with Mother Teresa’s sisters in Lower Manhattan at a Hospice they ran for men who suffered from the AIDS virus…..Not all the men were Catholic and many lived lives that were deeply sinful…However, the sisters loved them without judgement…If you lived in the Hospice, each man was asked to attend daily Mass in the morning…But if the men were not in the state of grace as a Catholic or were not Catholic, those men could not receive the Blessed Sacrament….The sisters did not compromise the standards of the Church…Nor did they judge the men for not complying or believing - They simply loved them as they were and for many - In time - It “paid dividends”…...What else did the sisters ask the men who lived at the hospice to do?….In the afternoon, each man was asked to sit before the Blessed Sacrament for one hour in silence…This is vital - So write this down!…This is where Jesus himself would speak to the men in a “language only they could understand”….Again, no judgements from the sisters or lectures…..And over time, the Holy Spirit began to “work” in the hearts of the men…And many would request to be baptized….This is what “true accompaniment” looks like - What it is not - Is pretending that differences do not exist or telling a person half truths in order to “get them into the doors of the Church”

"If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts"

In order to love like Mother Teresa’s sisters….We must be transformed our self…People know the “real thing” when they see it…And a person’s life, when animated by the Holy Spirit - “Stops Traffic”……Then and only then will the word - REPENT mean something…….......JMJ