Author: admin

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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 was an enormously large city;
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 shall be destroyed,”
when the people of Nineveh believed God;
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.

The Word of the Lord.

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Every morning our alarm clock goes off, I’m sure we’re tempted to hit “snooze.”

Maybe we did this morning.

I did.

In fact, I do most days.

We hit snooze because we’re reluctant to get up; we’d rather stay in our warm and cozy bed than face the day, certainly at 5 am.

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The prophet Jonah felt the same way, only he was hitting the “snooze” button on doing God’s will.

God asked him not once – but twice – to enter the city of Nineveh, encouraging the Ninevites to repent. 

But Jonah didn’t want to because the Ninevites were the sworn enemy of Israel. He’d rather watch their city burn to the ground in a fiery blaze than see them repent and be saved.

Ironically enough, because of Jonah’s reluctance to do God’s will, he reveals himself to be no different than his sworn enemies; both sides need to repent and seek God’s forgiveness.

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Are we ever like Jonah? Do we put off doing something that we know is right?

Whether that means picking up the phone; offering or accepting an apology; getting rid of a sinful habit; integrating more time into our day for prayer; going to confession.

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Stop hitting the snooze button.

As Saint Paul reminds us, “The night is over and the day draws near. Let us cast off the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.”

Lent is the anointed time to get up and do what is right.

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Image credits: (1) Behind The Madness, WordPress (2) Jewish Learning (3) @Motivating Force

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Isaiah 55: 10-11

Thus says the LORD:
Just as from the heavens
the rain and snow come down
And do not return there
till they have watered the earth,
making it fertile and fruitful,
Giving seed to the one who sows
and bread to the one who eats,
So shall my word be
that goes forth from my mouth;
It shall not return to me void,
but shall do my will,
achieving the end for which I sent it.

The Word of the Lord.

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One of my favorite Saints is Damian of Molokai.

Damian was a priest from Belgium, born in 1840. After his ordination, he felt the call to move from his native country, half-way across the globe to the deserted Hawaiian island known as Molokai.

It was home to hundreds of lepers – including children. At that time, when someone contracted leprosy, they were immediately removed from the community, often sent to Molokai, where they’d live and die in despair.

Somehow, word of this hellish island’s existence made its way from Hawaii to Belgium, into Damian’s heart. 

He thought of Christ’s final sermon – the Judgment of the Nations – and was deeply moved by those words, “Whatever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, you do to me.” 

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So, Damian left his parish, his family, his native language – his entire life behind – and moved to Molokai, where he ministered to lepers for 16 years.

He built a school, taught the children, celebrated Mass, assembled a choir to worship on Sundays, broke bread with the broken, even dug their graves – 600 in all.

Damian loved and served them as if they were Christ until he contracted leprosy himself, dying from it at the tender age of 49.

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What does his life say to us today?

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That we should be receptive to – and challenged by – the Word of God.

“Thus say the LORD,” the prophet Isaiah proclaims in our first reading, “Just as from the heavens, the rain and snow come down and do not return there until they have watered the earth…so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me void.”

Like Father Damian, how has the Word of God changed me?

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May God’s Word take deep root, changing each of us for the better today.

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Image credits: (1) X.com (2) Teaching Catholic Kids (3) Catholic World Report

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Gospel: Matthew 25: 31-46

Jesus said to his disciples:
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory,
and all the angels with him,
he will sit upon his glorious throne,
and all the nations will be assembled before him.
And he will separate them one from another,
as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Then the king will say to those on his right,
‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father.
Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me drink,
a stranger and you welcomed me,
naked and you clothed me,
ill and you cared for me,
in prison and you visited me.’
Then the righteous will answer him and say,
‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you,
or thirsty and give you drink?
When did we see you a stranger and welcome you,
or naked and clothe you?
When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’
And the king will say to them in reply,
‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did
for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’
Then he will say to those on his left,
‘Depart from me, you accursed,
into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels.
For I was hungry and you gave me no food,
I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
a stranger and you gave me no welcome,
naked and you gave me no clothing,
ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’
Then they will answer and say,
‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty
or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison,
and not minister to your needs?’
He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you,
what you did not do for one of these least ones,
you did not do for me.’
And these will go off to eternal punishment,
but the righteous to eternal life.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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During a visit to the United States, Mother Teresa went to a nursing home run by religious sisters. It had nearly every creaturely comfort one could ask for – healthy food, comfy beds, air conditioning, heating, television, and nurses readily available.

Yet, looking around, Mother Teresa noticed that not one of the residents was smiling.

Surprised, she turned to one of the sisters, asking, “Why are these people not smiling? I’m so used to seeing people smile, even the poor who are dying in our homes in Calcutta – they smile.”

The nun responded, “This is the way it is nearly every day. They are expecting, they are hoping, that a son or daughter or grandchild will come to visit them. But they never do. They hurt because they are forgotten.”

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This is the greatest form of poverty, Mother Teresa said: Feeling unwanted. Unloved. 

Forgotten.

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Lent is a time for us to become increasingly aware of Christ present in others – especially the sick, the less fortunate, the forgotten.

I’m inspired by our parishioners who routinely visit the nursing home located less than a mile from our parish. They bring communion to our brothers and sisters, listen to their stories, and pray with them week after week. They encounter Christ in some who otherwise may feel forgotten.

What about us? How do we go out of our way to encounter Christ – not just in the elderly, but also in veterans, the sick, the imprisoned, young adults, teens, or children?

“Whatever you did – or did not do – for one of these least brothers and sisters of mine,” Christ will say at the end of our lives, “you did – or did not do – for me.”

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Image credits: (1) TV Guide (2) Nursing Home Abuse Justice (3) QGiv