(Third Sunday in Ordinary Time-Year B; This homily was given on January 24, 2021 at the Church of Santo Spirito in Sassia in Rome, Italy; See Jonah 3:1-10 and Mark 1:14-20)
How well do you handle change? Change can be exciting and a very positive experience. Sometimes, though, change can come unexpectedly and we might receive it as a real trial. If you could change one thing about your life right now, what would it be?
St. John Henry Newman, in An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, writes:
“In a higher world it is otherwise, but here below to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.”
The context here is important. Newman is writing about the development of an idea. We have a concept about what we understand to be the truth, but that idea has to be worked out and discerned. There may be many misconceptions that need to be cleared away as we deepen our understanding. Perhaps through a difficult struggle and many trials we begin to understand what God has revealed to us from the start. This is the sense of change that Newman is writing about.
But that same quote could also be used to describe Newman’s own life: “Here below to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.” We can come back to that in a moment.
I mention Newman and change this morning because in the Gospel Jesus Christ is challenging the people in Galilee—and you and me—to change. It is the very beginning of His public ministry, and He addresses the crowds:
This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel.
—Mark 1:15
The Greek word in the Gospel for “repentance” is metanoia, and it literally means to change one’s mind or conception about the way things are. It is commonly understood as a call to renounce sin and embrace the moral life. It certainly involves that, but metanoia means much more. If there is sin in our lives, we need to repent and surrender ourselves to God, but Christ is ultimately calling us to see the world around us differently. He is challenging us to see God, to see the people in our lives and even to see ourselves in a whole new light.
At the Sea of Galilee he comes upon Simon and Andrew, James and John, who are fishing. He calls them to leave that way of life behind and follow Him. There is nothing wrong or sinful about fishing! Our Lord is calling them to see everything differently and to act in a different way than they anticipated. He is inviting them to embark on a journey that will change their lives—and the world we live in—forever.
Which brings us back to St. John Henry Newman. When he was an Anglican priest in his early thirties, Newman came here to Italy with several friends. They were touring the Mediterranean and seeking to deepen their intellectual understanding of the Christian faith. At that time, though, Newman was struck by a devastating illness that almost took his life. His recovery was a slow one, and he suffered greatly. As he made the difficult arrangements of getting back home, he became convinced that God had spared him and was calling him to some significant undertaking.
On the journey back to England Newman wrote what would become one of his best known and beloved poems, The Pillar of Cloud:
Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home,
Lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene,—one step enough for me
Homesick and vulnerable, he was nonetheless wide open to whatever changes God was introducing into his life. Within one week of landing on the shores of England, Newman and several colleagues formed what came to be known as the Oxford Movement. It began for him as a theological pursuit to reacquire the doctrines and traditions within Anglicanism that had been seemingly lost down through the centuries. Over time, however, Newman began to understand something different. He sensed that God was calling him not to reform the Anglican Church but to leave it; Newman became convinced that God was calling him to convert to the Roman Catholic Church.
This significant change in his life came at a cost. Many of his friends within Anglicanism felt betrayed. Some who had previously revered him and held him in great esteem no longer associated with him. At the same time, there was a deeply embedded tension between the Church of England and the Catholic Church. Many bishops and cardinals of the Catholic Church held Newman in suspicion and questioned the authenticity of his conversion. Others were intimidated by his sharp intellect and did not always welcome him as a Catholic. It was a painful transition for him, but Newman endured through many different challenges and changes. In 1879 he was created a cardinal of the Church by Pope Leo XIII. He died in Birmingham, England on August 11, 1890. His essays, books and sermons continue to provide insight and inspiration to the Christian faithful. Newman was beatified in 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI and canonized on October 13, 2019 by Pope Francis.
How well do we respond to the call of God through life’s many changes? Are we also able to align our hearts with the vision that God has for our lives, especially when we experience those inevitable challenges and trials?
In conclusion, we can reflect for a moment on our first reading from the Book of the Prophet Jonah. In that reading we hear one of the most remarkable accounts of change and repentance in all of Sacred Scripture. After listening to the preaching of Jonah, the people of Nineveh completely changed the way they were living. They humbled themselves before God and openly acknowledged their offense. Next we hear of God’s response:
When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way, he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do them; he did not carry it out.
—Jonah 3:10
God repented?! What a strange and surprising revelation! Of course, Jonah is using anthropomorphic language to describe the mysterious workings of God. There is no need for God to repent, nor does God ever change. The essence of that passage is that God, who never initially desired evil for the people of Nineveh, nonetheless was determined to see justice done. What He wanted was to bless them, to love them and grant them His favor, but their own evil actions had placed an obstacle before that. When they repent, He is able to accomplish what He really desired all along, to give them His blessing and favor.
Where do we place obstacles in the path of God’s plan for our lives? God calls us this weekend to repent, to see ourselves, our lives and the world around us with new eyes, a new vision. He calls us to recognize how very much we are loved by Him and how much He desires to bless us. We ask for the grace to be transformed, to be changed by the grace of God and, like St. John Henry Newman, to see God’s plan accomplished in a beautiful way. Today we open our hearts to whatever vision God has for us, because “In a higher world it is otherwise, but here below to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.”
