Repent and believe in the Gospel

Readings for Sunday, January 25^th

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

It-3 Ħadd matul is-Sena 

Messalin ‘B’ pp 351

Reading 1                                                         JONah 3:1-5, 10

The word of the LORD came to Jonah, saying: “Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and announce to it the message that I will tell you.” So Jonah made ready and went to  Nineveh, according to the LORD’S bidding. Now Nineveh was an enormously large city; it took three days to go through it. Jonah began his journey through the city, and had gone but a single day’s walk announcing, “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed, “ when the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth. When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way, he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them; he did not carry it out.  This is the Word of The Lord.

L-Ewwel Lezzjoni  -   mill-Ktieb tal-Profeta Ġona 3. 5-10

Il-kelma tal-Mulej waslet lil Ġona u qallu:  "Qum, mur f'Ninwe', il-belt il-kbira, u  xandrilha li ngħidlek jien."   U Ġona qam u mar f'Ninwe' kif qallu l-Mulej. Issa Ninwe' kienet belt kbira għall-aħħar, trid tlitt ijiem biex timxiha.   Ġona, kif  daħal  il-belt, beda ġurnata mixi, ixandar u jgħid:   "Erbgħin jum ieħor, u Ninwe' ssir ħerba!" In-nies ta' Ninwe' emmnu f'Alla, nedew  sawma u libsu l-ixkejjer mill-kbir saż-żgħir. U Alla ra x'għamlu, kif reġgħu lura minn triqthom  il-ħażina.   U Alla raġa' bdielu mid-deni li qal li  kien se jagħmlilhom, u ma għamlux.   Il-Kelma tal-Mulej

Responsorial Psalm                   PSalm 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9

                R. (4a) Teach me your ways, O Lord.

Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;
teach me your paths,
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior.                                          R.

Remember that your compassion, O LORD,
and your love are from of old.
In your kindness remember me,
because of your goodness, O LORD.                       R.

Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice
and teaches the humble his way.                            R.

Salm Responsorjali  - (Salm 24(25)

                R/  Triqatek, Mulej, għarrafni.

Triqatek, Mulej, għarrafni,

il-mogħdijiet tiegħek għallimni.

Mexxini fis-sewwa tiegħek u għallimni,

għax int Alla tas-salvazzjoni tiegħi.                         R/

Ftakar fil-ħniena u t-tjieba tiegħek,

għax huma minn dejjem, Mulej.

Inti tajjeb, Mulej;

Ftakar fija skont it-tjieba tiegħek.                            R/  

Tajjeb u sewwa l-Mulej;

għalhekk juri triqtu lill-ħatja.

Imexxi l-imsejkna fis-sewwa,

jgħallem lill-fqajrin it-triq tiegħu.                           R/

Reading 2                                                         1 CORinthians 7:29-31

I tell you, brothers and sisters, the time is running out. From now on, let those having wives act as not having them, those weeping as not weeping, those rejoicing as not rejoicing, those buying as not owning,  those using the world as not using it fully. For the world in its present form is passing away.  This is the Word of The Lord.

It-Tieni Lezzjoni   -    mill-Ewwel Ittra lill-Korintin 7, 29-31

Dan ngħidilkom, ħuti, iż-żmien qsar.  Ħa jkunu, mela, dawk li għandhom mara, bħallikieku ma għandhomx;  dawk li jibku, bħallikieku ma jibkux; dawk li jifirħu,  bħallikieku ma jifirħux; dawk li jixtru, bħallikieku ma  għandhom xejn; dawk li jgawdu d-dinja, bħallikieku  ma jgawduhiex;  għax is-sura ta' din id-dinja għad tgħaddi!  l-Kelma tal-Mulej

Gospel                                                MarK 1:14-20

After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Then they abandoned their nets and followed him. He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him. This is the Word of The Lord.

L-Evanġelju  -   skont San Mark 1, 14-20

Wara li arrestaw lil Ġwanni, Ġesu' mar il-Galililja jxandar  l-Evanġelju ta' Alla u jgħid:   "Iż-żmien huwa mitmum, u s-Saltna ta' Alla waslet  indmu u emmnu fl-Evanġelju."Waqt li kien għaddej ma' xatt il-baħar tal-Galililja,lemaħ lil Xmun u 'l ħuh Indri qegħdin ikalw ix-xbiekfil-baħar, għax kienu sajjieda.  U Ġesu' qalilhom:  "Ejjew warajja, u nagħmel minnkom sajjieda tal-bnedmin."   U minnufih telqu x-xbiek, u marru warajh.Wara li mexa ftit ieħor ra lil Ġakbu ta' Żebedewu lil ħuh Ġwanni fid-dgħajsa qegħdin isewwu x-xbiek, u minnufih sejħilhom.  U huma telqu lil missierhom Żebedew fid-dgħajsa mal-lavranti u marru warajh.  Il-Kelma tal-Mulej

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COMMENTARY:   Father Cantalamessa on True Conversion

Repent and Believe in the Gospel!

After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee preaching the Gospel of God and said: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the Gospel." We must immediately eliminate two prejudices. First: conversion does not refer only to nonbelievers, or to those who say they are "lay"; all of us indistinctly have need to be converted. Second: conversion, understood in a genuinely evangelical sense, is not synonymous with resignation, effort and sadness, but with freedom and joy; it is not a regressive but a progressive state.

Before Jesus, to convert always meant a "going back" (the Hebrew term, "shur," means to reverse course, to go back on one\'s steps). It indicated the act of the one who, at a certain point of life, realized that he was "not on course"; then he paused, reconsidered; decided on a change of attitude and returned to observance of the law and the Covenant with God. He made a real change of direction, a "U-turn." Conversion, in this case, has a moral meaning; it consists of changing customs, of reforming one's life.

This meaning changes on Jesus' lips. To convert no longer means to go back to the ancient Covenant and observance of the law; rather, it means to make a great leap forward and to enter the Kingdom, to cling to the salvation which has come to men gratuitously, by the free and sovereign initiative of God.

Conversion and salvation have exchanged places. There no longer is, as before, the conversion of man and therefore salvation as God\'s recompense; rather, salvation is first, as generous and gratuitous offer of God, and then conversion as man's response. In this consist the "glad tidings,\" the joyful character of evangelical conversion. God does not wait for man to make the first step, to change his life, to do good works, almost as if salvation is compensation for his efforts. No; grace precedes, it is God's initiative. In this, Christianity is distinguished from all other religions: it does not begin with preaching duty but gift; it does not begin with the law, but with grace.

"Repent and believe": This phrase does not mean therefore two different and successive things, but the same fundamental action: Convert, that is, believe! By believing, be converted. Faith is the door through which one enters the Kingdom. If it had been said: The door is innocence, the door is exact observance of all the commandments, the door is patience, purity, one might say: it\'s not for me; I\'m not innocent, I am lacking in this or that virtue. But we are told: The door is faith. It is not impossible for anyone to believe, because God has created us free and intelligent precisely to make the act of faith in him possible for us.

Faith has different faces: There is the faith-assent of the intellect, faith-trust. In our case, it is a faith-appropriation, that is, an act by which one appropriates for oneself something, almost by arrogance. St. Bernard even uses the verb usurp: "What I cannot obtain on my own I usurp from the side of Christ!"

"To convert and believe" means, precisely, to do a kind of sudden and ingenuous action. With it, even before making an effort and acquiring merits, we obtain salvation, we also appropriate to ourselves a "kingdom." And it is God himself who invites us to do so, he loves to see this ingenuity, and he is the first to be surprised that "so few respond."

"Convert!" is not, as we see, a threat, a thing that makes one sad and obliges one to walk with one\'s head bowed, thus taking longer. On the contrary, it is an incredible offer, an invitation to freedom and joy. It is Jesus' "good news" to men of all times.
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