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Esther 12: 14-25

Queen Esther, seized with mortal anguish,
had recourse to the LORD.
She lay prostrate upon the ground, together with her handmaids, 
from morning until evening, and said:
“God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, blessed are you. 
Help me, who am alone and have no help but you,
for I am taking my life in my hand.
As a child I used to hear from the books of my forefathers
that you, O LORD, always free those who are pleasing to you.
Now help me, who am alone and have no one but you,
O LORD, my God.

“And now, come to help me, an orphan.
Put in my mouth persuasive words in the presence of the lion
and turn his heart to hatred for our enemy,
so that he and those who are in league with him may perish.
Save us from the hand of our enemies;
turn our mourning into gladness
and our sorrows into wholeness.”

The Word of the Lord.

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This is one of the few times we read about the heroic story of Queen Esther, who is frozen with fear in our first reading.

She’s a Jew, who’s married to a foreign king. But the king doesn’t know her real identity.

One day while in his court, Esther overhears a plan to exterminate the Jews, a theme that’s repeated itself throughout history.

If Esther reveals her Jewish identity, then she, too, may be killed. But if she remains silent, then thousands of her own people will be slaughtered.

What is she to do?

What would you do?

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In her darkest hour, she prays, “Help me, who am alone and have no one but you, O LORD, my God.”

“Help me.”

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By the end of the story, Esther finds the courage to reveal her identity, pleading with the king to save her people.

Amazingly, he relents, and the Jews are saved.

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In a sense, this is what Lent is all about: sharing our heart with God, who offers us the strength we need to do right, and sometimes difficult, things.

Hopefully, we’re not in a dark place like Ester. Maybe we just need the grace to change a habit, adjust an attitude, or tweak our perspective.

But she reminds us that prayer is powerful. It changes things.

As Jesus says in the Gospel, “Ask. Seek. Find. The door will be opened to you.”

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Image credits: (1) Voice of God Recordings (2) Adobe Stock Silver Queen Crown Images (3) A Welcome Grace

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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