"'You see how it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that, in his name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses to this.'"

I have a friend who is a politician. Unfortunately, he's not a very good politician. After 25 years of trying very hard, he has never yet been elected to Parliament. But he's still hopeful. His problem, however, is that the place where he lives is a stronghold of one main party and he belongs to the other main party. So the chances of him ever getting elected are really pretty slim.

But once I asked him what he would do if he ever was actually elected to power. And I told him that I didn't really want to hear what was in the party's manifesto. I wanted to know what he would really do if the people chose to give him the opportunity. He thought for a moment and then he said: "I would find out what people really want ­ what they truly need ­ and give my life to get it for them."

Today we celebrate the Ascension of Jesus ­ his return to the Father ­ to his position of Power and Kingship. And we hear what he wants for us ­ his manifesto ­ the program to which He has given His life and the Gospel he sends out his disciples to preach ­ It is this: Repentance for the forgiveness of Sins. He does not preach lower taxes, better schools, more health centres, more Police or a stronger army ­ he asks Repentance for the forgiveness of Sins. Why is that so important that the Son of God died and rose so that we might have it?

One of the sorrows of being a doctor ­ as St. Luke probably once knew - is that there are diseases of the Soul which no medicine can cure. There are truly amazing numbers of people whose lives are blighted by a suffering , a memory, a fear or a guilt which they can never ­ ever ­ relinquish. It is with them constantly ­ it seems ­ to the end of Time itself. It may be the guilt of an action they have never ceased to regret. Or it may be a crime done to them which they cannot forgive or forget. It may be a critical failure in themselves or in someone else which has prevented them from achieving their hopes and deepest desires in life. It is one of the sorrows in the life of a doctor that there is no tablet, no injection which helps people like these.

But it is one of the joys in the life of a priest that frequently people like this do find rest ­ even after many years of carrying a burden of guilt, anger, disappointment or whatever that they can find peace, repentance and forgiveness in the love of God ­ especially in the sacrament of repentance.

Just recently, I gave a woman of 34 her First Holy Communion. She had been baptised a Catholic, but not brought up in any Faith. Now she is dying of AIDS. She asked for Confession and Holy Communion because she wanted to die at one with God. And it was only after that I realised why it is that when the Lord at his Ascension, sends out his disciples to bring the Christian Good News to the ends of the Earth, the message he sends is repentance for the forgiveness of Sins. In the End ­ the real End ­ the Final End ­ there is nothing else that really matters.

Let us stand and profess our Faith in God and in the only things that really matter.

Mount Street Jesuit Centre,
114 Mount Street,
London SW1K 3AH.
ENGLAND.
fatbaldnproud@yahoo.co.uk