In Matthew’s Gospel, the very first word spoken publicly by Jesus is: “Repent.”
We’ve heard it before. However, the word “repent” doesn’t mean (as it is often thought to mean) simply beating your breast, and promising to do penance to make up for your sins. It means literally to re-think . . . to see things in a new way.
When we begin a day, we can automatically fall into a routine of thinking, fed by the news, traffic and weather reports, opinion polls . . Our world becomes flat.
“Repent” means to “re-think” – to see a wider, deeper world, a world in which God is present, a world with a destiny that goes beyond history and flows into the kingdom of God.
Prayer opens our eyes to that world. It’s the real world.
Take a look at it through new eyes.
The way God sees it.
- Little Blue Book, January 5