What Does “Do Penance” (Matthew 3:2; 4:17) Mean? by Robert Lazu Kmita

Compared by Saint John Chrysostom – in a downright poetic manner – to the auroral light of the morning, which heralds the approach of the moment when the sun itself appears to pour forth its light upon the world just emerging from darkness, Saint John the Baptist received, according to the words of Saint Jerome, the “honorable privilege” of preaching the Kingdom of God first. Indeed, the Gospel according to Matthew presents this crucial message as being conveyed for the first time by the greatest of the prophets of the Old Testament:

“And in those days cometh John the Baptist preaching in the desert of Judea. And saying: Do penance: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 3: 1-2).”