Dear Parishioners and Visitors,

In the gospel reading for this coming weekend, Jesus makes a strong and striking statement about who is entering the kingdom of God before the chief priests and elders of the people. The statement seems shocking because Jesus gives precedence to groups of sinners. No surprise to us, he goes on after this statement to explain that the reason those sinners were entering the kingdom of God first is because they had listened to John the Baptist and had repented of their sins. The chief priests and elders, on the other hand, had not believed the message of the Baptizer.

The first of our Scripture readings, from the book of the prophet Ezekiel, will prepare us to take in the words of Jesus. Through the prophet, the Lord assures us that if we turn away from all our sins, we shall surely live.

It’s clear, then, that one of the strong Scriptural messages we will hear this weekend is about the great importance of repentance: turning away from what is bad and putting into practice our calling to do good. But we already knew this, right? Of course we did, and we do. But conversion is not a “one and done” kind of thing.

Repentance, or conversion, is a process; it is a lifelong journey. I think of the words of a favorite contemporary author: “Here is a test to find whether your mission on Earth is finished: If you’re alive, it isn’t.” Conversion is our mission on Earth; this is why my dear patron, Saint Philip Neri, asked people to pray for his conversion whenever he met them, right on up to the final days of his long life. As holy as he was, he knew very well that there is always room to grow.

For us, the practical daily question is “How can I change today, so that I will be more like Christ?” And then, of course, we will need to make that change, with the Lord’s help. Sometimes the change may be big, and most times the change will seem small. Almost always, the change will seem to be difficult. But this is the life Jesus calls us to live!

I am blessed to be making this journey with you. Let’s support each other by prayer and example, pressing on towards the goal of eternal joy in the fullness of God’s kingdom.

Blessings,

Fr. Philip

P.S. If you like to read, I have a book recommendation for you. I just finished reading Theo of

Golden, a novel by Allen Levi. I think you would like it. I would tell you more about this book,

but my humble hope is that you would approach it the way I did: with no information in

advance, and with no specific expectations; just a willingness to enter in.