12 When Jesus
heard that John had been arrested, he left Judea and returned to Galilee . 13 But
instead of going to Nazareth , he went to Capernaum , beside the Sea of Galilee ,
in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 This
fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy: 15 "In
the land of Zebulun
and of Naphtali, beside the sea, beyond the Jordan River -- in Galilee where so many Gentiles live -- 16the people
who sat in darkness have seen a great light. And for those who lived in the
land where death casts its shadow, a light has shined." 17 From then
on, Jesus began to preach, "Turn from your sins and turn to God, because the Kingdom of Heaven Sea of
Galilee , he saw two brothers -- Simon, also called Peter, and
Andrew -- fishing with a net, for they were commercial fishermen. 19 Jesus
called out to them,"Come,
be my disciples, and I will show you how to fish for people!" 20 And they
left their nets at once and went with him. 21 A little
farther up the shore he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting in a
boat with their father, Zebedee, mending their nets. And he called them to
come, too. 22 They
immediately followed him, leaving the boat and their father behind. 23 Jesus
traveled throughout Galilee teaching in the
synagogues, preaching everywhere the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed
people who had every kind of sickness and disease.(Matthew 4: 12-23)
When Jesus heard that John had
been arrested, he went to live in Capernaum .
John had been sent to preach the baptism of repentance and to prepare the way
for Jesus to come. John told the people, “I have only come to prepare the way
for the Messiah, but you do not recognize him. I am not fit to untie his sandal
strap. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
Look for him. Wait for him.”
Wait for the LORD, take courage;
be stouthearted, wait for the LORD! (Psalm 27:14)
The
Light has come. He is in our midst. Baptism gives us the grace of adoption as
the sons and daughters of God. The grace of baptism never leaves us once it
comes upon us. We never stop being a beloved son or daughter of the Father. We may
make poor choices. We may place our self-will in opposition to God’s Holy Will.
Our vision may be clouded and our will weakened due to sin. Sometimes we choose
for the good, sometimes for evil. Even if we choose to sin, we will never cease
to be the son or daughter of our Father. We will never cease to be his child. He
will never stop loving us.
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| The Father embraces the Prodigal Son |
John
and Jesus preached the baptism of repentance. In order for the Holy Spirit to
be vibrant in our lives, in order for Jesus to shine forth, we need to repent.
Everyone needs to repent. All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory. Pope
John Paul II used to go to confession every day. Mother Teresa of Calcutta went every week.
The constitutions of her Order say that the sisters must confess weekly. It is
embarrassing to go to confession. We have to humble ourselves and confess our
sins. But the fruit of this is a tremendous joy. The prophets tell us that
there is great joy, abundant joy, when we do God’s will.
I
have an older brother who called me up with great joy because he had been to a
retreat with his wife who had forced him
to go. And his life had been changed. This was the first retreat he’d ever made
in his whole life and he is 70 years old. God entered his life on this retreat,
probably through his going to confession. He had so much joy and hope that he
had to share them with the family.
What
happens when I go to the Lord and admit that I am a sinner? How do I begin a
confession? I should say, “Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a
sinner.” This is a good thing to say when we can’t sleep. Say it over and over
and you will soon sleep in peace. This is called the Pilgrim’s prayer. It helps
us know who we are and who God is.
Sin
can wreak havoc in a soul and can also affect our bodies. Our bodies show the
effects of sin by making us tense and guilty. We take our sin and go to Jesus
who took all our sins upon himself and therefore conquered sin. He is the one
who smashed the yoke that burdens us. He took the heavy rod of the taskmaster
from our shoulders.
John
the Baptist preached baptism for the repentance of sins, and he told us to
repent for the kingdom
of God kingdom
of God France that he,
Louis, wanted to pray as a saint, but God wanted him to come to the Lord as a poor,
humble soul.
Jesus
told us that blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. A soul that acknowledges that she needs God is poor in spirit. Go to God
poor in spirit. Be humble and repent. That is the first step to holiness.
The
second is this. Pray perseveringly. Pray when prayer is beautiful and
uplifting, and pray on the days when prayer is not so beautiful. Many people
get discouraged when prayer becomes boring and they drop it. God did not ask us
to pray well but to pray always, to persevere in prayer. Jesus told us the
parable about praying always and not losing heart.
Prayer
and repentance are the way holiness.
--Transcribed
as best as possible from a homily by Father James Kumbakkeel,
O.S.B.,
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