Yesterday we saw how Jesus initiated the mission, his inauguration, to set about his work for the Father. Today we witness his return to Galilee after the Baptist had been arrested. He arrive there "running," as me might say. He began "proclaiming the Gospel of God" immediately. His words were clear: "Repent, and believe in the Gospel."
Most Catholics, when they hear or read the word "repent," -- the message Jesus delivered at the outset of his public life, his preaching -- begin to think about an examination of conscience, the sins, the failures in life. The Scriptures, if they could do this, see repentance in the individual's life with wider eyeglasses. Repentance is meant to engage one's total life. The scope of concern far exceed just our heart or feelings. It is a consequence of the transforming that the Baptism of Jesus was meant to signify. Repentance is the turning away from one way of life to another. The scenes of "callings" in the gospel are the changing of individual's ways of life to something very different, if not totally different. The four fishermen were invited to put aside their nets to begin living their vocation as followers of Jesus Christ.
What Jesus is asking of us today should be relatively easy to understand but fully challenging to fulfill. For many it could be giving one's self to the kingdom of God, turning full attention to the kingdom Jesus is preaching. So, each of us should ask ourselves the following: "And what does this mean for me? Do I need to make the about face turn?
