Kevin Perrotta - The Gift of Repentance: Gods Call for a Change of Heart

Kevin Perrotta

Copyright 2014 by Kevin Perrotta
All rights reserved

Published by The Word Among Us Press
7115 Guilford Road
Frederick, Maryland 21704
www.wau.org

ISBN: 978-1-59325-269-4

eISBN: 978-1-59325-464-3

Nihil Obstat: The Rev. Michael Morgan, Chancellor

Censor Librorum

November 14, 2014

Imprimatur: Most Rev. Felipe J. Estvez, STD, Bishop of St. Augustine

November 14, 2014

Scripture texts used in this work are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright 1965 and 1966 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA.

All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Excerpts from the English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for use in the United States of America, copyright 1994, United States Catholic Conference, Inc.Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used with permission.

Cover design: Andrea Alvarez
Cover art: Raphael, The Miraculous Draught of Fishes, 1515.
Credit: HIP/Art Resource, NY

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other, except for brief quotations in printed reviewswithout the prior permission of the author and publisher.

Made and printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014951175

To Mike OBrien and all the peeps at
Wolverine Crossfit, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Have you ever lost your keys? Everyone seems to have at least one lost keys story to tell. Maybe you had to break a window of your house or wait for the auto club to let you into your car. Whatever you had to do probably cost youin time, energy, money, or all three. Keys are definitely important items to have on hand!

The guides in The Word Among Us Keys to the Bible series are meant to provide you with a handy set of keys that can unlock the treasures of the Scriptures for you. Scripture is Gods living word. Within its pages we meet the Lord. So as we study and meditate on Scripture and unlock its many treasures, we discover the riches it containsand in the process, we grow in intimacy with God.

Since 1982, The Word Among Us magazine has helped Catholics develop a deeper relationship with the Lord through daily meditations that bring the Scriptures to life. More than ever, Catholics today desire to read and pray with the Scriptures, and many have begun to form small faith-sharing groups to explore the Bible together.

We designed the Keys to the Bible series after conducting a survey among our magazine readers to learn what they would want in a Catholic Bible study. We found that they were looking for easy-to-understand, faith-filled materials that approach Scripture from a clearly Catholic perspective. Moreover, they wanted a Bible study that would show them how they could apply what they learned from Scripture to their everyday lives. They also asked for sessions that they could complete in an hour or two.

Our goal was to design a simple, easy-to-use Bible study guide that is also challenging and thought-provoking. We hope that this guide fulfills those admittedly ambitious goals. We are confident, however, that taking the time to go through this guidewhether by yourself, with a friend, or in a small groupwill be a worthwhile endeavor that will bear fruit in your life.

The study guides in the Keys to the Bible series are divided into six sessions that each deal with a particular aspect of the topic. Before starting the first session, take the time to read the introduction, which sets the stage for the sessions that follow.

Whether you use this guide for personal reflection and study, as part of a faith-sharing group, or as an aid in your prayer time, be sure to begin each session with prayer. Ask God to open his word to you and to speak to you personally. Read each Scripture passage slowly and carefully. Then, take as much time as you need to meditate on the passage and pursue any thoughts it brings to mind. When you are ready, move on to the accompanying commentary, which offers various insights into the text.

Two sets of questions are included in each session to help you mine the Scripture passage and discover its relevance to your life. Those under the heading Understand! focus on the text itself and help you grasp what it means. Occasionally a question allows for a variety of answers and is meant to help you explore the passage from several angles. Grow! questions are intended to elicit a personal response by helping you examine your life in light of the values and truths that you uncover through your study of the Scripture passage and its setting. Under the headings Reflect! and Act! we offer suggestions to help you respond concretely to the challenges posed by the passage.

Finally, pertinent quotations from the Fathers of the Church, as well as insights from contemporary writers, appear throughout each session. Coupled with relevant selections from the Catechism of the Catholic Church and information about the history, geography, and culture of first-century Palestine, these selections (called In the Spotlight) add new layers of understanding and insight to your study.

As is true with any learning resource, you will benefit the most from this study by writing your answers to the questions in the spaces provided. The simple act of writing can help you formulate your thoughts more clearlyand will also give you a record of your reflections and spiritual growth that you can return to in the future to see how much God has accomplished in your life. End your reading or study with a prayer thanking God for what you have learnedand ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in living out the call you have been given as a Christian in the world today.

Although the Scripture passages to be studied and the related verses for your reflection are printed in full in each guide (from the New Revised Standard Version: Catholic Edition), you will find it helpful to have a Bible on hand for looking up other passages and cross-references or for comparing different translations.

The format of the guides in The Word Among Us Keys to the Bible series is especially well suited for use in small groups. Some recommendations and practical tips for using this guide in a Bible discussion group are offered on pages 117120.

We hope that this guide will unlock the meaning of true repentancewhich is a change of heartand lead you to experience the joy that it will bring in your life.

The Word Among Us Press

God has given... the repentance that leads to life.

Acts 11:18

There isnt a lot of grunting and groaning at the gym where I work out. The guys and gals generally sweat through even the toughest workouts in determined silence. But there is one exercise that elicits ughs and arghsa routine called Bring Sally Up. It involves loading an Olympic bar with as much weight as you can manage, getting it on your shoulders, and then standing or squatting with itBring Sally up or Bring Sally downin accompaniment to music in which those two lines keep alternating. The tricky part is that the lines repeat irregularly, making the intervals between Sallys upping and downing unequal. At some points, you have to stay in the squat for quite a while. Thats where the groaning occurs.