\u201cYou brood of vipers! Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cRepent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.\u201d<\/p>\n
With this attitude, I don\u2019t think anyone will be inviting Saint John the Baptist over for dinner, or even a beer.<\/p>\n
Saint John preaches an inconvenient truth many don\u2019t want to hear, a truth which eventually cost him his head.<\/p>\n
His preaching, even when read today, has great urgency. \u00a0The Lord is coming and we must be ready.<\/p>\n
Just as it\u2019s unexpected for a fragile, green shoot to sprout from a dry, hard and dead tree stump, the Lord will come with all his glory where and when least expected. \u00a0Think of a tree stump \u2013 it is useless. \u00a0You can only dig it out and get rid of it by burning it. \u00a0Yet Isaiah prophecies that out of a useless, dead stump will blossom something new, something beautiful.<\/p>\n
Isaiah announces that the Lord will come where least expected.<\/p>\n
John the Baptist announces that we must be ready.<\/p>\n
When the Lord comes he will judge not by appearance or hearsay, but he will judge with justice giving to each what they deserve. He will strike the ruthless and slay the wicked. \u00a0 At his coming he will bring balance and harmony to all creation: the wolf will be a guest of the lamb, the lion will eat hay like an ox and a baby will play in a cobra\u2019s den.<\/p>\n
We must repent in preparation for the coming of Christ.<\/p>\n
We must invite him to transform our hearts which so often are like a tree stump: hard, dry and dead. \u00a0So many hearts become useless and the Lord can only throw them away into the fire.<\/p>\n
The Lord calls us to repentance so that a shoot may sprout from our hearts; so that there may be new life.
\nPope Francis, in the opening of his exhortation \u201cThe Joy of the Gospel\u201d published last week invites us to pray, \u201cLord, I have let myself be deceived; in a thousand ways I have shunned your love, yet here I am once more, to renew my covenant with you. \u00a0I need you. \u00a0Save me once again, Lord, take me once more into your redeeming embrace.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blessed Bartolo Longo was born to a wealthy family near Naples, Italy in the 19th century. \u00a0He drifted away from his faith as a young man, publicly ridiculing Christianity and meddling with the occult. \u00a0As he drifted even further, he was ordained a Satanist priest and reported having diabolical visions as well as spiritual beings that visited and accompanied him at all times. \u00a0 His dealings with the occult led him to experience deep depression and anxiety. \u00a0After a mental breakdown, a good friend directed him to a priest, Friar Alberto. \u00a0Bartolo repented but still despaired over his past sins. \u00a0He renounced the occult saying that it was nothing but a \u201cmaze of error and falsehood.\u201d<\/p>\n
He wrote, \u201cAs I pondered over my condition, I experienced a deep sense of despair and almost committed suicide. Then I heard an echo in my ear of the voice of Friar Alberto repeating the words of the Blessed Virgin Mary: \u2018If you seek salvation, promulgate the rosary. This is Mary\u2019s own promise.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Blessed Bartolo Longo writes that these words transformed him, he fell on his knees and promised to spend the rest of his life spreading devotion to the Blessed Mother through the Holy Rosary. \u00a0He used personal funds to rebuild a church near his hometown, today the Pontifical Sanctuary of the Holy Rosary at the gates of the well-known archeological site of Pompeii, Italy.<\/p>\n
From one repentant sinner who allowed himself to be found by God, from one repentant sinner who accepted God\u2019s mercy, from one repentant sinner who had become a worthless tree stump, God made a shoot sprout, blossom and produce great fruit.<\/p>\n
From what seemed useless for God\u2019s kingdom, a Satanist priest deep in things contrary to God, thousands of souls have grown closer to Christ. \u00a0John Paul II called him the \u201cApostole of the Rosary\u201d when he was beatified in 1980.<\/p>\n
The life of Bartolo Longo reveals the power of a repentant heart.<\/p>\n
Blessed Bartolo Longo heard the voice of John crying in the wilderness, \u201cRepent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.\u201d \u00a0May our lives, like his, also be transformed by God; may Christ produce great fruit even when all we have is a tree stump.<\/p>\n
Pictures are mine, all rights reserved<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u201cYou brood of vipers! Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.\u201d \u201cRepent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!\u201d \u201cEvery tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.\u201d \u201cThe chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.\u201d With this attitude, I don\u2019t think anyone will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2533,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Advent Repentance<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u00a0 \u201cYou brood of vipers! Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.\u201d \u201cRepent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!\u201d \u201cEvery tree that does not bear\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/12\/advent-repentance.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Advent Repentance\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0 \u201cYou brood of vipers! Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.\u201d \u201cRepent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!\u201d \u201cEvery tree that does not bear\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/12\/advent-repentance.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Labyrinthine Mind\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-12-14T07:44:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-03-25T23:18:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/files\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-3rtj94rJk-A\/UqvwB-dz-ZI\/AAAAAAAADCg\/RL05Ll0gJr8\/s320\/IMG_3100.JPG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Father Pablo Migone\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Father Pablo Migone\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/12\/advent-repentance.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/12\/advent-repentance.html\",\"name\":\"Advent Repentance\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-12-14T07:44:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-03-25T23:18:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#\/schema\/person\/35ce8464416a4368561caf8ed8c2ba1b\"},\"description\":\"\u00a0 \u201cYou brood of vipers! Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.\u201d \u201cRepent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!\u201d \u201cEvery tree that does not bear\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/12\/advent-repentance.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/12\/advent-repentance.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/12\/advent-repentance.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Advent Repentance\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/\",\"name\":\"Labyrinthine Mind\",\"description\":\"Seeking God in the labyrinth\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#\/schema\/person\/35ce8464416a4368561caf8ed8c2ba1b\",\"name\":\"Father Pablo Migone\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/305296c2dd82f71369f8808eb07ace26?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/305296c2dd82f71369f8808eb07ace26?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Father Pablo Migone\"},\"description\":\"Born in Lima, Peru and raised in Augusta, Georgia, Father Pablo Migone was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 2009 after studying at the Pontifical North American College and earning a Masters in Dogmatic Theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome, Italy. He currently serves as Vicar for Mission Advancement of the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia and Pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish and Corpus Christi Parish in the Savannah, Georgia area. The views expressed in this blog are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of his bishop or the Diocese of Savannah.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/author\/pmigone\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Advent Repentance","description":"\u00a0 \u201cYou brood of vipers! Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.\u201d \u201cRepent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!\u201d \u201cEvery tree that does not bear","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/12\/advent-repentance.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Advent Repentance","og_description":"\u00a0 \u201cYou brood of vipers! Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.\u201d \u201cRepent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!\u201d \u201cEvery tree that does not bear","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/12\/advent-repentance.html","og_site_name":"Labyrinthine Mind","article_published_time":"2013-12-14T07:44:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-03-25T23:18:34+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/files\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-3rtj94rJk-A\/UqvwB-dz-ZI\/AAAAAAAADCg\/RL05Ll0gJr8\/s320\/IMG_3100.JPG"}],"author":"Father Pablo Migone","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Father Pablo Migone","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/12\/advent-repentance.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/12\/advent-repentance.html","name":"Advent Repentance","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-12-14T07:44:00+00:00","dateModified":"2016-03-25T23:18:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#\/schema\/person\/35ce8464416a4368561caf8ed8c2ba1b"},"description":"\u00a0 \u201cYou brood of vipers! Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.\u201d \u201cRepent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!\u201d \u201cEvery tree that does not bear","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/12\/advent-repentance.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/12\/advent-repentance.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/2013\/12\/advent-repentance.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Advent Repentance"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/","name":"Labyrinthine Mind","description":"Seeking God in the labyrinth","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#\/schema\/person\/35ce8464416a4368561caf8ed8c2ba1b","name":"Father Pablo Migone","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/305296c2dd82f71369f8808eb07ace26?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/305296c2dd82f71369f8808eb07ace26?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Father Pablo Migone"},"description":"Born in Lima, Peru and raised in Augusta, Georgia, Father Pablo Migone was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 2009 after studying at the Pontifical North American College and earning a Masters in Dogmatic Theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome, Italy. He currently serves as Vicar for Mission Advancement of the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia and Pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish and Corpus Christi Parish in the Savannah, Georgia area. The views expressed in this blog are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of his bishop or the Diocese of Savannah.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/author\/pmigone"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2533"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/labmind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/613\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-3rtj94rJk-A\/UqvwB-dz-ZI\/AAAAAAAADCg\/RL05Ll0gJr8\/s1600\/IMG_3100.JPG\")
<\/a><\/div>\n