Readings:
Ephesians 4: 7-16
Luke 13: 1-9
Reflection:
Repent. It can be a word used harshly. It’s yelled from street corners and appears on signs and placards in capital letters with one or more exclamation marks. It sometimes sits more as a threat than a necessity.
For some Christians it is a singular event, accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior and then getting on with other things. A Catholic understanding of repent or repentance is based more on the translation of the word from the Greek, metanoia known as changing your heart/mind. Another way of considering repentance is to think of it as returning to relationship or returning home. It is coming back to what we need to do. It is living by the truth and in love (Ephesians 4: 15). Repentance is not a ‘one-of’ event but a continuous reflective process and can take time. Today’s parable of the fig tree offers some insight with it taking a year and care for a change to occur.
Many of us find having a GPS in the car immensely useful but woe to you if you do not obey! You know you have done the wrong thing if you get the message ‘recalculating route’ or are implored to make a U-turn as soon as possible. Repentance is recalculating our route so we can make our way home.
Do you need to recalculate your route to return to relationship with God, others and the environment?
What steps do you need to take for this to happen?
Alison Gore is a parishioner at St Paul of the Cross, Glen Osmond. She works in education and formation.