“This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mk 1:15)
Time is running out. The time is now. Now is the time to believe.
Believe what? That the Good News is really good, life-giving and powerful to transform. It is not only a stale word that we have heard so many times and despaired of seeing fulfilled. It is our cynicism that kills the word, like the hard pavement on which a seed falls and is carried off and consumed without producing fruit.
If I believe, I can become soft and welcoming soil. This would be a change. I must change, turn, repent in order to believe, renouncing my hardness. But believing will itself change me, cause me to turn and become new. Perhaps I could even take the risk of leaving something behind in order to follow the word wherever it would lead me. Let me leave my cynicism, my hard shell of disbelief and open myself to a life of naked hope.
I believe. Everything is possible now. God is near.