Sunday 15th July, 2012
15th Sunday in Ordinary Time. G. Amos 7:12–15. Lord, show us your mercy and love, and grant us your salvation—Ps 84(85):9–14. Ephesians 1:3–14. Mark 6:7–13 [St Bonaventure].

  
Meditation: mp3 | podcast
Readings: Text | mp3 | podcast

They went off and preached repentance.

Jesus sent his twelve disciples on a mission and in particular to preach repentance. The lesson of repentance is obviously an important one for us to learn. On Ash Wednesday, as a cross is placed on our foreheads, we are urged to ‘turn away from sin and remain faithful to the Gospel’. These words, in essence, summarise repentance. It is not just a change of mind but also a change of action.

What are we holding on to today that keeps our hands tied and prevents us from embracing God fully? With genuine sorrow, we need to let go of it now and turn to our God. If not, we still haven’t taken the first step in living out our Christian faith—that of repentance.