Light dawns: repent and believe

Matthew 4: 12 - 17

..for those who sat in the region and shadow of death, light has dawned...

The gospel that Jesus proclaims is to bring light to those who have never perceived the possibility of a redeeming relationship with God. Those who sat in darkness, who believe death is the end of everything.......are given a glimpse of light, of the Light of the world.

There are demands made of us if we are to appropriate the good news in our lives: repent and believe! This may begin at one point in time but it is also something that continues throughout our lives. Repentance is always required of us - and if we know ourselves well, and our ego centeredness, we would ask the Spirit for a repentant heart and the grace to see our sinfulness for what it is - ingratitude to God whose love reached out to us in our darkest depths. Believing is also not to be equated with mere intellectual assent of certain doctrines. Belief and faith are in the person of God, a growing relationship with the members of the Trinity. The written word leads us to the Living Word. Of course because we are human, our relationship with God waxes and wanes and there are times when we feel distant from God - those are the times to cling to the facts and truths that we have embraced. But God is gracious and these periods are interspersed with times of belief that are enlightened by experiential knowledge.

So all our lives, we "repent and believe"; we seek more humble and sensitive hearts, and we ask for the graced experiences of God that help us believe in him, that renew our faith.