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.

Hitting snooze means you’re reluctant to get up; you’d rather stay in your warm and cozy bed than face the day.

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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 enemies of Israel. He’d rather watch their city burn to the ground than in a fiery blaze than see them repent and be saved.

Ironically enough, because of Jonah’s reluctance to do God’s will, he revealed himself to be no different than the Ninevites; both sides needed to repent and seek God’s forgiveness.

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How often are we like Jonah? We put off doing something that we know is right?

Whether that means picking up the phone and calling an old friend; accepting an apology from a co-worker; getting rid of a favorite sin; integrating more time into our day for prayer; or going to confession.

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“Stop hitting the snooze button,” the Lord says.

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

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Image credits: (1) Katelyn Ohashi (2) Andrea Vaccaro, Jonah Preaches to the Nineties (3) StephaniElearning

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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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“So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth,” the Lord says in our first reading from the prophet Isaiah, “it shall not return to me void, but shall do my will.”

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I pray these words at least twice a day.

First while in my little chapel at home. “Lord, may your word not return to you void.”

I live my life soaked in scripture; I read it at home, pray over it, and preach about it daily. But Isaiah reminds us that it’s one thing to know the Word of God and another thing to live it… to do it… to be guided by it.

So, I pray each morning that God’s Word would not return to him void; rather, that I’d not only know it, but also be changed by it.

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Secondly, I pray before celebrating Mass, that both the scriptures and the words I preach would not return to the Lord void; rather, that this community of faith would be changed by them.

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Perhaps this can become a pocket prayer for you, too.

“Lord, may your Word not return to you void.”

Rather, may all who hear it, do it…and be changed by it day after day.

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Image credits: (1) Shopper Board (2) Psephizo (3) Knowing-Jesus.com

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Gospel: Mt. 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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One of the most popular Saints of our time is Mother Teresa.

I’m sure we all know her story: she brought together a group of 11 other nuns and founded a religious order, the Missionaries of Charity, in 1950.

Then she spent the rest of her life serving the poorest of the poor in India.

Today the Missionaries of Charity have over 5,000 members, who run schools, soup kitchens, homes for refugees, abandoned children, people with AIDS, leprosy, or mental illness.

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A reporter once asked her, “Mother Teresa, why do you do this?”

She reached over, touched his hand, and on each finger repeated one of those five sacred words we heard from Jesus in today’s Gospel, “You…did…it…to…me.”

Mother Teresa believed that whatever she did with her hands for the poor, she did for Christ.

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It can feel intimidating to compare our life to hers. She was a prophet; a spiritual giant, who was uniquely gifted with a love for the poor.

But we can be just like her if we hold out one hand, and as we bend each of our five fingers, repeat those words of Christ:

“You…did…it…to…me.”

Then go out and find someone to serve.

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Image credits: (1) Brady Lane Church (2) secure.qgiv.com (3) Pinterest