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Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, peace, and may God grant us every grace and blessing!
Some of Jesus’ first words in His public ministry were:
“Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” (Gospel of Mark chapter 1)
Christ the Consoler by Carl Bloch (1834-1890)
Jesus’ command is very clear for us and shows us the importance of repentance, turning away from our sin to God.
He echoes the ancient call of God through Moses in the book of Deuteronomy:
“…I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then that you and your descendents may live, by loving the Lord, your God, obeying his voice, and holding fast to Him.” (Chapter 30)
Loving the Lord is actually a very concrete call described by Jesus in the Gospel of John:
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (Chapter 14)
And there is a wondrous, ancient hymn on this message of loving God that you can listen to here.
To aid our understanding of His message: other biblical figures and St. Paul point to this fundamental point of repentance; Jesus himself teaches us how to view fidelity to God and to understand how everyone is called to holiness; we can look at the prophecies of the Messiah, Jesus, prophecies in the Bible that talk about Him and what He would do; the Church in her authority through the Popes shares the Gospel call to repentance; Jesus also reveals to St. Bridget of Sweden the state of the world before He became a man and how He calls us to holiness.
St. John the Baptist, the one who preceded Jesus Christ, also talked of the need of repentance. He described himself in the Gospel of John chapter 1 as the prophet described in Isaiah chapter 40:
“A voice proclaims: in the [desert] prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight…a highway for our God!”
St. Paul also strongly talks about repenting. In Galatians chapter 5 he says:
“For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.”
He refers to a slavery to sin (see Romans chapter 6).
In Ephesians chapter 4, he also shares about letting go of old sinful ways, of repentance:
“…put away the old self of your former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth.”
In the Gospel of Matthew and Luke, Jesus also rebukes the leaders of the Jews for negligence in “judgement and mercy and fidelity” and “judgement and…love for God.” (Matthew Chapter 23, Luke chapter 11)
Jesus too confirms everyone’s call to holiness:
“I tell you, unless your righteousness [action in conformity with God’s will] surpasses that of the scribes and the Pharisees [the religious leaders], you will not enter the kingdom of Heaven.” (Gospel of Matthew chapter 5)
The Messianic prophesies, the prophesies in the Old Testament that point to the Messiah, to Jesus, also help us understand the freedom He would provide, freedom from sin. Jesus in the Gospel of Luke chapter 4 says He is the one referred to in the Messianic prophecy in Isaiah chapter 61, who would: “proclaim liberty to captives, release to the prisoners,” which refer to those held captive and prisoner to sin.
In Her teaching authority, the Church also preaches God’s will for repentance, to put on the “new self” as I previously shared from St. Paul. Pope John Paul II hailed one of his predecessors Pope Paul VI at Puebla, Mexico in 1979, during a meeting of the regional Bishop’s conference about Evangelization, where he asked those present to study deeply “Evangelii Nuntiandi,” written by Paul VI. In this document, Paul VI says: “the [Gospel is] proclaimed through two fundamental commands: ‘Put on the new self’ and ‘Be reconciled to God.’” (#2)
Pope Paul VI (1897-1978, 1st image) and Pope John Paul II (1920-2005, 2nd image)
Last, the Lord to St. Bridget graphically reveals the world before He came and this same call to Holiness:
“Before my Incarnation this world was like a wilderness in which was a [muddy] and unclean well, of which all who drank, thirsted the more, and the sore-eyed became more afflicted. …[M]en sought the [muddy] well…and by the seven mortal sins, had, as it were, entrance by seven ways. …And when man stood so blind, as to think neither of God nor [the] hereafter, then I, God with the Father and Holy Ghost, came into the world, and assuming humanity, said openly : ‘What God promised…is fulfilled. Love, therefore, the things of heaven, for those of earth pass, and those of eternity will I give unto you.’” (52-53)
So in this revelation, Jesus, besides helping us to understand the monumentality of His Incarnation and His work as a man, which would remedy this sad situation where all because of their sin “thirsted” and were “afflicted,” also calls us to love the things of heaven.
Another facet of the “new self” is, to what is the Christian to devote himself? There are myriad ways to serve God, but some are fundamental: worship at Mass, prayer, and service/love. In prayer we connect with God and there can bring to Him all our needs, desires, and those of the world. In service, we are called to give of ourselves, time, talent, and treasure for the benefit of the Church and the World, our neighbor.
Family, Jesus calls us to repentance, to turn away from our sins, and to put on the new self, to follow Him to the heights of Holiness. He gives us this message in the first words of His public ministry in the Gospel directly, but also helps us to understand: through biblical figures like St. John the Baptist, and through St. Paul; by in the Gospels talking of the importance of fidelity to Him and how we are all called to the heights of holiness; through prophesies that point to Him, the Messiah, and the freedom from sin that the Messiah would grant; through the Church that announces this mandate of the Gospel; through revelations to St. Bridget where we see His call to new life in Him.
May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life,
Juan B
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Citations:
Bridget of Sweden, Saint, (1862). Revelations of St. Bridget, on the life and passion of Our Lord, and the life of His Blessed Mother. New York, D. & J. Sadlier & Co. , The Internet Archive, https://archive.org/details/RevelationsOfStBridget—. Accessed 4 Aug 2025
Pope St. John Paul II, “Pope John Paul II Opening Address at the Puebla Conference,” Catholic Culture, https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/—, Transcript. Accessed 24 Aug 2025
Pope St. Paul VI, “Evangelii Nuntiandi”, Vatican.va, Pope Paul 6 Apostolic Exhortations, https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_p-vi_exh_19751208_evangelii-nuntiandi.html. Accessed 24 July 2025
Kowalska, St. Maria Faustina (1981). Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul. Marian Press.
Pope, Msgr. Charles, “Is Satan’s vow to not serve in the Bible?”, Our Sunday Visitor (OSV), https://www.oursundayvisitor.com/is-satans-vow-to-not-serve-in-the-bible/. Accessed 3 Jun 2025
Pronechen, Joseph, “On July 13, 1917, Our Lady of Fatima Showed a Vision of Hell and Taught Us How to Avoid It”, Blogs, National Catholic Register, https://www.ncregister.com/blog/on-july-13-1917-our-lady-of-fatima-showed-a-vision-of-hell-and-taught-us-how-to-avoid-it. Accessed 3 Jun 2025
Image credits
1 – Public domain
2 – The Vatican, Wikipedia, “Pope Paul VI”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/—. Accessed 8 Aug 2025.
3 – Encyclopædia Britannica, “St. John Paul II”, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-John-Paul-II#/media/1/305139/335672. Accessed 8 Aug 2025.
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