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Today's Readings
Signs are quite useful. Being a visual person, I like using maps, landmarks and road signs whenever I go anywhere. Give me visual directions for a project and I’m in good shape. God gives us many signs in Scripture to lead us on our faith journey.
In the Gospel this morning, Jesus tells us that Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites.
Just in case you’re not familiar with his story, Jonah was a prophet of God, called to bring God’s message of repentance to the people of Nineveh. Jonah’s problem was that the Ninevites were not his people; they were enemies of the Israelites and a godless society. So on the first go round with God and knowing how merciful he would be if they repented, Jonah decided not to go to them. Instead, Jonah fled, boarded a ship, slept soundly through a horrific storm, was thrown overboard and swallowed by a big fish. After three days he cried out to God for help and was spit out on shore. Pretty visual stuff!
Crying out for help set Jonah back on the path God had originally intended. The first reading tells us that after “the word of the Lord went to him a second time, Jonah set off for Nineveh.” He preached to them in a not so subtle way by crying out “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,” and to his surprise, within a day the whole nation repented! Thus, God was merciful and spared the Ninevites. Unfortunately, Jonah was angered! He knew this would happen; God would be merciful to those who didn’t deserve it!
Do any of us deserve God’s mercy?
For me, Jonah’s story is a sign of God’s loving mercy. I may be caught in a storm of my own thoughts, in the abyss of anxiety, or stuck in sin and God is there in the midst of it all. I have only to call out to Him, gaze at his image on a crucifix, or receive Him in the Eucharist to know: He loves me! If I keep my focus on him, he will guide and teach me. Even if I don’t, he will continue to love me and show mercy when I repent!
“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.” Psalm 51:3-4
Merciful God,
on our journey this Lent,
give us the grace to recognize and give thanks
for the mercy you grant us every day.
May we show your love and mercy
to each and every person you place before us.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Amen.
Ruthann DiMauro is a member of St. Stephen’s and serves joyfully as a parish secretary. She is a catechist in Religious Ed program. Ruthann and her husband, Jim, have four grown children.