“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” Today in our gospel reading we see the beginnings of the work of evangelization among the people of Jesus’ time. After his baptism and when John the Baptist has been arrested, signaling the end of the time of preparation, Jesus begins the work of bringing the Good News of God’s love and mercy to the people of Israel. The work of bringing the Good News of God’s love to the people is known as evangelization and we have a call today as a Church to participate in a New Evangelization in our world today. Pope John Paul II took up the challenge from Pope Paul VI and Pope Benedict XVI and now Pope Francis have taken up the challenge of beginning a New Evangelization among God’s people. We all have a need to hear the gospel message in a new way and in a new context in our lives today. After 2000 years the gospel message is still relevant to our lives today and people are hungering for the Word of God, a word of life, love, joy and hope that opposes the “bad news” that we hear every day in the media.

The “good news” of the gospel is a light that shines in the darkness of our world today. Even though there are great challenges to life and to the gospel of life today, we should not give up our Christian way of life and give in to a lower standard of living that is proposed by the secular world today. As Christians, children of God and children of light, we must keep our minds, hearts, souls and life vision focused on the Kingdom of Heaven, the kingdom of light, goodness, truth and love. The kingdom of this world is tempting God’s people to focus their attention on the things of the world, on economies, on material security, on carnal pleasures and on advancement in social status. The philosophy of the worldly kingdom encourages us to think about ourselves and our own selfish needs, desires and advancement. Many of God’s people today, those who have been baptized and are called to live a Christian life of goodness and holiness, have lost their way in life and have become distracted by the things of this world, losing their perspective on the gift of life with which God has blessed us. When we have lost our perspective and turned away from the Kingdom of Heaven in favor of focusing on the things of this world we have “sinned”, for sin is a turning away from God and living in another way that leads us away from Jesus the Christ.

Jesus begins his message with a call to “repent.” This repentance is a call to recover our proper perspective in life and to turn back to God and focus our lives on the Kingdom of Heaven that is near to us. The meaning of life is discovered only in the light of faith and in our relationship with Jesus Christ. Without a close and personal relationship with Jesus we can never discover the truth of who we are and what we are meant to do with the gift of our lives. For all people the Kingdom of Heaven is “at hand” or accessible. We don’t have to live in the darkness of the world without hope, struggling and competing with one another for limited resources and putting ourselves above others. All of us have access to God’s grace, mercy and goodness.

The announcing of the Good News of God’s Kingdom is not presented as a threat to the people but rather as an announcement of great joy. The light of Jesus Christ shines in the darkness of the world and leads us to a new way of life. This way of life is made visible in the life of Jesus. Jesus moves from the obscurity of his life in Nazareth to a new, more visible life in Caphernaum. Jesus will travel about and proclaim the nearness of the Kingdom of Heaven with his healing, compassion, mercy, teaching and doing the good. The witness of a new way of life that points to the Kingdom of Heaven draws others to leave behind their old way of life and to begin a new life of discipleship and service. To share in the life and mission of Jesus is to share in the joy of life in heaven.

We are being challenged by the Church to participate in the work of evangelization with Jesus and to share in his joy. In the work of the new evangelization we must present the gospel message in a new way, with new fervor, enthusiasm and excitement. We focus our lives on the Kingdom of Heaven and help others to see the nearness of the kingdom in our world today.