 |
| “Jonah Preaches to Nineveh” by Johann Christoph Weigle, 1695 |
Reading I: Jonah
3:1-10
The word of the LORD came to
Jonah a second time:
“Set out for the great city
of Nineveh
and announce to it the
message that I will tell you.”
So Jonah made ready and went
to Nineveh
according to the LORD’s
bidding.
Now Nineveh
it took three days to go
through it.
Jonah began his journey
through the city,
and had gone but a single
day’s walk announcing,
“Forty days more and Nineveh
when the people of Nineveh
they proclaimed a fast
and all of them, great and
small, put on sackcloth.
When the news reached the
king of Nineveh
he rose from his throne, laid
aside his robe,
covered himself with
sackcloth, and sat in the ashes.
Then he had this proclaimed
throughout Nineveh
by decree of the king and his
nobles:
“Neither man nor beast,
neither cattle nor sheep,
shall taste anything;
they shall not eat, nor shall
they drink water.
Man and beast shall be
covered with sackcloth and call loudly to God;
every man shall turn from his
evil way
and from the violence he has
in hand.
Who knows, God may relent and
forgive, and withhold his blazing wrath,
so that we shall not perish.”
When God saw by their actions
how they turned from their evil way,
he repented of the evil that
he had threatened to do to them;
he did not carry it out.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Jon
3:1-10
Jonah has tried
to run from God after the first time the word of God came to him. He has been
swallowed by a giant fish and spewed out on dry land. Following his miraculous
rescue from the belly of the great fish, the Prophet Jonah is sent to Nineveh,
a traditional enemy of the Jews, to spread the news that, unless they repent
their ways the city would be destroyed.
It is not explicit in this reading, but Jonah was sure he would fail and
the city be destroyed. This selection,
then, describes his unexpected success and God’s subsequent redemption.
Placed in context
of the season of Lent, the reading reminds us of the need for repentance and
the promise of God’s mercy.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm
51:3-4, 12-13, 18-19
R. (19b) A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you
will not spurn.
Have mercy on me, O God, in
your goodness;
in the greatness of your
compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my
guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not
spurn.
A clean heart create for me,
O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew
within me.
Cast me not out from your
presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not
from me.
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not
spurn.
For you are not pleased with
sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt
offering, you would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a
contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled,
O God, you will not spurn.
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not
spurn.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Psalm
51:3-4, 12-13, 18-19
Consistent with
the theme from Jonah 3:1-10 pleading for the remission of sins, this selection from the great
penitential psalm is a lament. It
expresses sorrow for sin and an understanding of the need to reform the heart.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gospel: Luke
11:29-32
While still more people
gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them,
“This generation is an evil
generation;
it seeks a sign, but no sign
will be given it,
except the sign of Jonah.
Just as Jonah became a sign
to the Ninevites,
so will the Son of Man be to
this generation.
At the judgment
the queen of the south will
rise with the men of this generation
and she will condemn them,
because she came from the
ends of the earth
to hear the wisdom of
Solomon,
and there is something
greater than Solomon here.
At the judgment the men of Nineveh
and condemn it,
because at the preaching of
Jonah they repented,
and there is something
greater than Jonah here.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Lk
11:29-32
Jesus’ message,
in this reading, echoes Jonah’s call to repentance but this time is it is
directed to the Jewish people. Instead
of a prophet he uses himself; “Just as
Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this
generation.” The reference to the “queen of the south” is
a reference to the Queen of Sheba who in the first book of Kings (1
King; 10:1ff) came and
saw God’s wisdom in Solomon. Using this
imagery, the Lord refers to himself as God’s Wisdom incarnate.
The final verse
of this passage summarizes the message. Christ’s call to repentance carries
more weight than Jonah’s call did for the Ninevites (Jonah
3:1-10) and his wisdom is
greater than that of Solomon.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reflection:
We
begin with Prayer:
Lord, send forth your Holy
Spirit and continue to guide and inspire our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI
during these final days of his papacy. Be with the College of Cardinals for the
next conclave and fill them with your grace. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
We continue our inward search
to become the perfect disciple of Jesus. One critical element of that search is
to look at our character with the lens of the perfect example, the Lord
himself, and see what needs to be changed.
When all is said and done,
repentance has two components. First there is recognition that the behavior
that requires forgiveness is something for which we are sorry. There cannot be
repentance without that sense of sorrow. If we commit a sinful act and feel no
remorse or sorrow then we do not recant that action. It would be like going to
receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation and, at the end of our act of
contrition feeling, “Well, I guess there is really nothing to be contrite
about.”
The second element of
repentance is our reaction to that sense of contrition, sorrow, or remorse. We
must change our behavior in such a way that our previous actions, which have
offended God, do not have an avenue to return. We must be mindful that the evil
one is constantly looking for ways to turn good intentions into evil outcomes.
In order for us to truly
change ourselves, to repent and move toward God, we must look carefully at what
we do and how we act. We must see there the fundamental weakness and use God’s
gift of the Holy Spirit to bolster that area of our character. This has been a
very “theoretical” kind of examination of the repentance theme and we must make
it very personal for it to be effective in our lives. So let’s sum up
repentance in one short, very personal, statement: Repentance is first
recognition that we have pierced God with our failure to love and recognizing
our actions true contrition for them followed by a pledge and action to prevent
its reoccurrence. Or, in other words: “Turn away
from Sin and be faithful to the Gospel.”
Pax
[2]
The picture is “Jonah Preaches to Nineveh” by Johann Christoph Weigle, 1695
[3]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the
Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and
is for private use only.
No comments:
Post a Comment