Daily Gospel Reflection

Come Into the Light

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant. Today's reading is from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 4, verses 12 through 17 and 23 through 25. Now when He heard that John had been arrested, Jesus withdrew into Galilee, and leaving Nazareth, He went and dwelt in Capernaum by the sea in the territory of Zebulum Naphtali that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled. The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali toward the sea across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. And for those who sat in the region in shadow of death, light has dawned. From that time, Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." And he went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people. So his fame spread throughout Syria, and they brought all the sick and the afflicted to him with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and beyond the Jordan. What jumps out at you today?

Again, we see this imagery of light and darkness and God's invitation to come into the light. And some part of our life is always sitting in the darkness, right? And God is constantly calling us into the light. So what part of your life is sitting in the darkness today? In what way is God calling you into the light? And then, of course, we have this phrase that never loses its salt, that never loses its flavor, that never loses its power: "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Some translations we see, "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand." And it's obviously 2,000 years since this was first put in writing, and 2,000 years later, it is still radical, and it is still relevant. The word repent, which of course means to turn back to God. Some ways we turn away from God just by a degree. Sometimes we say, "Okay, God, I'm 100% available. I'll do whatever you want me to do. Just show me what you want me to do." But then we take 1% back at a time or even 1/10 of 1% back at a time. And all of a sudden we realize, "Okay, I'm not 100% committed anymore. Maybe I'm 95%. Maybe I'm 75%." Depends on how much we've been taken back and how often. And so we are called to turn back to God wholeheartedly. "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand." And when is that true? That's always true. The Kingdom of God is always at hand. And so today, maybe we're being called to repent in some new way. Maybe we're being called to repent in some old way. In some way, we've repented time and time again. Keep repenting. Stay persistent. Have a great day. And remember, be bold, be Catholic.