TOPIC:
REPENTANCE
2A Advent- Sunday Homily, Matthew 3:1-12, December 4, 2022
1. STORY
Henry had a dream one night and saw two words: “after six.” He was puzzled as to what was the meaning of
these two words. He thought that they
meant that he would die in six days, so he prepared for his death. He was determined to change his life, to
repent. He made every effort to avoid
sin and do good. After six days he was
still alive, so he thought that he would die in six months. Again, he made every effort to avoid sin and
do good. After six months he was still
alive, so he thought that “after six” meant he had six more years to live. So again, he made every effort to avoid sin
and do well. Thus, he lived a holy life
and became St. Henry. His feast day is
celebrated July 15.
2. GOSPEL, MATTHEW 3:1-12
A) REPENT.
To prepare
for the coming of Jesus, John the Baptist urged people to repent which means to
change one’s life from doing evil to doing good. The people acknowledged their
sins.
B) DO GOOD.
John the
Baptist urged people to do good. He said
that people had to produce good fruits as evidence of their repentance.
3) APPLICATION TO LIFE
A) REPENT.
Here are
three areas where we may need to change.
i)
Doubting God’s love and care for us because of the troubles in our lives
resulting in not praying.
ii) Being
angry toward our neighbor and others because they do not follow our demands.
iii) Being
proud by thinking we are smarter and better than others.
B) DO GOOD.
We must
pray daily as we need God’s help. Be kind to others as they need our support. Be humble knowing that we can learn from
others.
4) CONCLUSION
John the Baptist exhorts us to repent which means changing from doing evil to
doing good. St. Henry gave us a good
example of this. We repent by changing
from doubting God to being faithful to him; by changing from being angry to
being kind to others; by changing from being proud to being humble. This is how we prepare for the coming of
Christ.
