Intro: [00:00:00] Everybody, welcome to the EquipCast, a weekly podcast for the Archdiocese of Omaha. I'm your host, Jim Jansen. Now let's dive into some encouragement and inspiration to equip you to live your faith and to be fruitful in your mission. Let's go. 

Jim Jansen: Hey, everybody. Welcome to the EquipCast Coaches' Corner, where I break down important topics to equip you and your team for mission in your family, in your church, and in your ministry. My name is Jim Jansen. And today, I'm gonna talk about corporate repentance. And just right before any of you freak out, no, this is not gonna be a rant against Walmart or Wall Street. When I say corporate repentance, I mean the biblical concept of well, let's call it communal repentance, where even if we have not personally done anything wrong, we join in communal [00:01:00] repentance to call down God's grace.

So, let's start. Where do we need to repent? Well, I just want to begin by reviewing the purpose of the church. And I'm just going to nerdily here, I'm going to admit it, just go through 3 of my favorite quotes on the purpose and mission of the church. Number 1, this is from the second Vatican council on the apostolate of the laity.

It says the church was founded for the purpose of spreading the kingdom of Christ throughout the Earth so that the whole world might enter into a relationship with Christ. Boom. That's it. Our purpose, spread the kingdom of Christ so that everybody can be in relationship with him. Quote number 2.

This is John Paul the second. He says, evangelization is the cornerstone of all pastoral action, the demands of which are primary, preeminent, and preferential. Now, John Paul II is a smart dude, and he's using some technical theological language here when he says [00:02:00] primary, preeminent, and preferential. And if I were to define those properly, it'd take more time than we have. I'm just gonna say primary.

Right. It's like first and it's like the thing and we give we give it like preferential treatment because it is the cornerstone of all of our pastoral action. Okay. Number 3. This is Pope Francis.

It's quotes like this why sometimes, like, ruffles people's feathers. So, he begins by talking about what a parish is supposed to be. Says in all its activities, the parish encourages and trains its members to be evangelizers. It is a community of communities, a sanctuary where the thirsty come to drink in the midst of their journey, and a center of constant missionary outreach. And then he goes on, we must admit, though, the call to review and renew our parishes has not yet sufficed to bring them any nearer to people, to make them environments of living communion and participation, and to make them completely mission oriented.

I love this. Thank you, Beau [00:03:00] Francis. He just gives us permission. This is not our current reality. Just to admit it, to be honest, when we look at our budgets, our time, our personnel, we are not the centers of missionary outreach that we're supposed to be.

Again, in Pope Francis's words, we've become self-referential, and we are rapidly shrinking because of it. If you live in the United States or if you live in Europe and most of the Western world, your parish is probably shrinking, unless immigration or the real estate market is helping to juice the numbers. For most of us, we live in a time and a place where the church is shrinking, and engagement is diminishing. Why? We've forgotten our hungry neighbors.

In their deepest hunger, their hunger to know God. We've forgotten our purpose and our mission. Okay. Now some of you are like, wait, I haven't forgotten. I try to share [00:04:00] my faith.

I listen to the equip cast. I've given my life as a priest or as a missionary. I know. Thank you. That's why we need to talk about corporate repentance.

Because sometimes the Lord calls us to repent even if we personally haven't been at fault. This is the pattern of the prophets like Ezra and Nehemiah, the prophet Jeremiah, and it's also the pattern of Jesus. He gets baptized and he repents even though we had no sin. Right? He gets baptized John the Baptist's baptism for repentance.

He takes our sin on himself, even though he was sinless. And here's the good news. Repentance is the key to unlocking grace, both personally and corporately. When we repent individually, God forgives us. When we repent corporately, God forgives us, and he blesses.

I think this is an under talked about key to healing relationships, [00:05:00] families, and parishes. Well, so what do we do? Well, first we stop blaming, right? No blaming the culture. No more blaming our leaders.

No more blaming another generation, no more blaming those next to us. Let's repent and see what the Lord will do. So, I'm gonna read a little bit from the prophet Jeremiah. This is the book of Lamentations, chapter 3, and I'm gonna pick it up in verse 39. And this is gonna be our prayer.

I'll pray a little bit at the end there, but I'm gonna read Lamentations chapter 3 verses 39 to 50. What should the living complain about? About their sins. Let us search and examine our ways and return to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts as well as our hands toward God in heaven.

We have rebelled and been obstinate. You have [00:06:00] not forgiven us. You wrapped yourself in wrath and pursued us, killing without pity. You wrapped yourself in a cloud which no prayer could pierce. You have made us filth and rubbish among the peoples.

They have opened their mouths against all us and all our enemies. Panic and the pit have been our lot. Desolation and destruction. My eyes stream with tears over the destruction of the daughter of my people. My eyes will flow without ceasing, without rest, until the Lord from heaven looks down and sees.

Oh, Lord, have mercy on us. Ask that you would grant us the grace that even those of us who've tried to share our faith wanna prioritize evangelization, whose hearts ache for our neighbors to come to know you. Lord, grant us the [00:07:00] grace to join and to lead repentance. Repentance for our families, ourselves, and our parishes. Lord, have mercy on us.

Come and heal and restore. Amen. Alright. I'd love to hear your thoughts. You can respond back in the chat at equip.ArchOmaha.org.

Love to hear your thoughts. Thanks, everybody. Thanks for listening to the EquipCast. We hope this episode has inspired you to live your faith and equip you to be fruitful in your mission. Stay connected with us by going to Equip.Archomaha.org.

God bless and see you next time.