Repent and Believe in the Gospel

First Sunday of Lent

Gn 9:8-15/1Pt 3:18-22/Mk 1:12-15

Lent gives us a time to more deeply contemplate our baptism and what it truly means to live as disciples of Christ. As noted in the first letter of Peter, baptism is not a removal of dirt from the body, but an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is Christ who leads us to God—we cannot get to the Father any other way but through His Son, Jesus Christ, led by the Spirit.

This is where the last line of the Gospel is so critical. Continuing John the Baptist’s cry, Jesus proclaims, “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” The author of the Gospel, Jesus’ words are brought to life as example and lesson in all He does. From the beginning of Jesus’ ministry as He comes out of the dessert, through the Cross to eternal life. This is also the path we, as His disciples, are also called to walk.

The sad truth, however, is that so few truly know the Gospel. One question I always ask Catechists during formation sessions is, “If we are called to preach the Gospel—what is the Good News?” The usual response is a deer in the headlight look followed by numerous guesses usually focusing on being nice to our neighbors.

When Pope Benedict XI established the new Roman Dicastery promoting the New Evangelization in 2010, he opened the event with his Apostolic Letter Ubicumque et Semper. In the opening paragraph the Pope noted, “The Church has the duty to proclaim always and everywhere the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He, the first and supreme evangelizer, on the day of his Ascension to the Father sent the Apostles: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19-20)” (US, 1).

While we live in a time of great scientific and technological advancements, it seems as if our culture has lost its moral compass. It is as if the more we know and can control in life, the less we feel we need God. Statistics note the fastest growing religious group is one identifying itself as “unaffiliated” (Pew Forum, http://religions.pewforum.org/reports). Many note they believe in God, yet have little to no desire to belong to a community of faith. The result is the creation of individual gods—not the God of the Gospel that Christ came to preach and the one that we, as believers are called to proclaim, but a gospel based on individual ideas, philosophies, and truths. This is not the path to heaven.

Reflecting on the reality of our culture, Pope Benedict reminds us of this in his moto proprio on the New Evangelizaiton. “All this has not happened without consequences also for the religious dimension of man's life. And if on one hand humanity has known the undeniable benefits of these transformations and the Church has received further stimulation to give reason for the hope that is in her (cf. 1 Peter 3:15), verified on the other hand is a worrying loss of the sense of the sacred, even calling into question those foundations that seem indisputable, such as faith in a creator and provident God, the revelation of Jesus Christ only Savior, and the common understanding of the fundamental experiences of man, such as birth, death, living in a family, and reference to a natural moral law” (Ubicumque et Semper).

It is up to us as disciples to not let the Gospel go unheard. It is not enough to assume people will pick it up from our behavior—we must use the words and be intentional about our actions. The Good News must be proclaimed with a zeal and conviction, in its purity and rawness. I always tell Catechists that if they teach nothing else, they need to proclaim the message of John 3:16 over and over again: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”  Every lesson, project, prayer, and activity should flow in and out of the core of the Gospel.

We need to understand, proclaim, and live the love that God has for us. It is a love that goes to the depth and length that Jesus did for us. From the leper to the Temple. From the manger to the cross. When we do, we will be the living example of God’s love in this world, drawing others to Christ, through whom salvation is known.