Metanoia

“From that time Jesus began to preach, saying ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” -Matthew 4:17

After today’s Parish Picnic festivities, you may begin wondering, “This was fun, now what’s next?” For the men in our parish, the next big thing is–COR! Cor: Into the Breach starts up again on Saturday with a new series, Metanoia: A Journey with Christ into Conversion.

As noted in Matthew’s passage, Jesus began His public ministry by preaching repentance. Matthew’s Gospel was originally written in Greek and he used the word “metanoia” to denote this message of repentance. Metanoia encompasses far more than simply seeking forgiveness for our sins. It means to turn away from past wrongs toward a divine path. Jesus wants us to go beyond the human perspective and begin seeing the world from God’s perspective. He’s calling us to a profound transformation of our hearts. True repentance requires true change. We can’t just say “sorry” and then go back to doing the same thing. Rather, we need to fundamentally reorient our hearts to God’s will. When we truly repent and follow God’s will, the Kingdom of God comes into the world. Aligning our hearts with God’s heart opens up a world of possibilities we cannot even imagine. As St. Catherine of Siena (a doctor of the Church) taught, when we become who God wants us to be, we will set the world on fire! And who does God want us to be? As author Matthew Kelly has repeatedly told us–God wants us to simply be the best version of ourselves.

And how do we make this transformative change? That is where Cor: Into the Breach comes in. It’s appropriate that we call this group “Cor” because the Latin word “cor” means heart. Through a series of videos and discussions, we will learn how to transform our hearts, our cor, to become better colleagues, better fathers, better men. Join us every Saturday at 7am in the Parish Center. No sign up or cost required, just show up. Breakfast and fellowship is included.