Our Own Repentance

Gospel: Mark 6: 7-13

Repentance is a need we all have; no one is exempt from it.  One of the dangers in preaching about repentance is that the focus becomes the sins of others and not our own.  Our constant obsession with the news cycle has us focused on the sins of other people while we neglect the only conscience we were given to examine - our own.  

If we are to be about the ministry of anointing and healing others, of helping others be free from what possesses them and holds them in bondage, then we need to be healed of our infirmities and freed from that which holds us bound.  The message of repentance should first be preached to ourselves and then secondarily to others.  

Today is the feast of St. Camillus, appropriately enough.  He left the military to serve the sick and poor.  When visiting the sick and poor he would beg them to forgive him of his sins. He repeated over and over the line from scripture: I was sick and you visited me. Camillus embodied the spirt of today's Gospel portion.  May we today embrace repentance for ourselves and go out to anoint, heal, and liberate others by sharing the love and mercy of God that has been shown to us.