The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.
There are many long days of parenting small children where I find myself wanting to send the kids out to play, put my headphones in, turn on a podcast, and cook dinner alone. Seemingly, on the worst of those days, the voices of my kids break through, asking me to let them cook with me. I always try to send them back out and I am usually frustrated with it, but on the days I take out my headphones, look them in the eye, and bring them into my activity, we always end up happier and more peaceful.
The voices of my children call me out of myself and into a fuller practice of my vocation; into a fuller presence in my life. Likewise, John the Baptist reminds us to “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” He is calling us out of our complacency, lukewarmness, and day-to-day drudgery to remind us that there is something more, something better. He calls us to interrupt us.
We all get these daily interruptions in phone calls we don’t want to answer, an invitation to join a friend for coffee when we want to stay home, being present to a stranger who needed a listening ear, or from the needs of our children at just the moment we sit down. Those interruptions are our calls to repentance – they are the calls that bring us outside of ourselves and to a place where God is calling us.
These calls are so often hard to obey. We resist and complain of what is required of us. But God doesn’t interrupt us or call us to repentance without providing us abundant grace for the process. That grace is the source of peace. Being open to interruption in this season is a path of repentance and to the graces God longs to bestow upon us when we respond.
Kelsi Wilson is a wife, mom, and part-time attorney who loves dinner parties, baking, reading, and mastering the art of thrifting. She’s an extroverted homebody so you can usually find her at home and if you don’t mind a true mess and a lot of noise, she’ll pour you a cup of coffee (or wine) and invite you to stay and chat awhile. Follow along here.