The first words in this week’s Gospel are words of invitation: “Repent and believe the Good News”. The Scriptures continually invite us to repentance and conversion. We are invited to look at our lives and be honest about what we see - our weaknesses, flaws, our sins. Then, seeing how these estrange us from God and one another, we seek to change. But this is not where the invitation ends.
The invitation to conversion is an invitation to go further, do more, and go beyond where we are now. It is also an invitation to realise the potential in us - the God-given potential that so often gets shut out or forgotten in our busy and noisy lives. When we hear the call to repentance, we might only consider it a call focused on our sinfulness. Indeed, we start by acknowledging the wrongs we have done and our sins, but then we are
invited to go further and recognise that God is calling us to something more, something greater.
So often, we judge ourselves (and others) by what we have done. Jesus invites us to become aware of what we need to become aware of. But, he also invites us to shift from judgement and focus on sinfulness - when we have taken responsibility - to the realisation that there is “untapped” Godly potential in each of us.
Take some time today to consider how Jesus is inviting you to something more, something greater. Do you know the God-given potential that lies within you - untapped, waiting to be discovered? You can talk to the Lord, expressing your desire to be more than you are now, to find the potential that is in you.
Reflections by Russell Pollitt SJ
