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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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Aren’t we all like the prophet Jonah from time to time?

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In our first reading, God asks Jonah not once – but twice – to enter the city of Nineveh, imploring the Ninevites to repent. 

But Jonah wants nothing to do with it. The Ninevites were the sworn enemies of Israel, so he would rather watch their city burn than to see them repent.

Because of his hesitance, Jonah becomes no different than his sworn enemies; both sides need to repent and seek God’s forgiveness.

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Like Jonah, aren’t there times when we hesitate to do God’s will?

Maybe we hesitate to forgive…or to be forgiven.

We hesitate to make a necessary change in our life.

We hesitate to return to the Sacraments…to tell the truth…to get involved in ministry.

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The time has come. Make the change.

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

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Image credits: (1) Kevin Green Wired (2) My Jewish Learning (3) L’eclectique Life

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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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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, and homes for refugees, abandoned children, and 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 lives to hers. She was a prophet; a spiritual giant, who was uniquely gifted with a love for the poor.

But think about the ways we also serve Christ in our neighbor here: 

We continue Mother Teresa’s work every Monday morning when we prepare food in our Soup Kitchen.

Now we’re expanding that mission to include a baking ministry. Parishioners will have the opportunity to bake tasty treats for other parishioners to enjoy here on Sundays after Mass. Whenever we feed one another, we feed Christ.

There are others among us who purify our linens for Mass, care for an aging spouse, young children, or pray for our growth as a community.

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Whatever we do for one another, we do for Christ.

So, what will We do for God today?

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Image credits: (1) secure.qgiv.com (2) Sermon Quotes (3) LaSalle Academy Ruminations