From that time, Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”
These lines from Matthew’s Gospel are immediately recognizable. Matthew marks this line as the beginning of Jesus’ public preaching. Opening up His public ministry, Christ calls us to repent.
However, although easy to recognize, these words are difficult to truly understand. A part of this difficulty lies in the use of the word repent.
For English-speakers, repentance has a connotation of sorrow accompanied by action. However, in the original Greek, the first spoken word of Christ’s public ministry is metanoia, which, when translated literally, means to go beyond the mind you have.
Metanoia is formed by combining two smaller Greek words: meta (beyond) and nous (mind or spirit).
Metanoia connotes something more than what we typically mean by the word repent. Metanoia hints at a change occurring on a deeper and more fundamental level of one’s being. Rather than urging us to a single instance of sorrow, Jesus is urging us to change our way of seeing and knowing, to go beyond ourselves.
Christ is calling us to go beyond our own mind, to see things from God’s perspective. Our mind is a human mind, a broken and weak mind. But with the advent of Christ, Who took on our nature and transformed it, everything is changed.
With Christ, we receive grace. Grace enables us to think and act beyond our fallen human mind and ways. With Christ, we can truly repent with a spirit that is beyond our own. This is true conversion. This is the way Christ called us from the start of His public ministry.
When we act in accordance with Christ, following His call to metanoia, we can be transformed, and transform the world along with us! This is the beautiful truth contained in the famous phrase, “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire,” inspired by the words of St. Catherine of Siena. Remind yourself of this powerful reality every day with a framed print of this galvanizing quote. Perfect for any home or office or as a Confirmation gift! Available today from The Catholic Company!
