+ Once again, we have profound and timely readings for mass
today. They speak to us of
reflection, introspection and action, immediate action to save our necks from
the noose of botched history in the making.
The city of Nineveh,
in the time of Jonah, was a bombastic and cruel machine of war and conquest. It
was ruthless in its methods and practices. It was also, right in the middle of
the tribe of Israel which had at the time similar, but less ruthless things on
its mind: Israel had on its mind to be a great nation, but certainly, being the
people of God, would not go to the extremes that the Ninevites went through to
obtain its place among nations.
God sent Jonah to the
Ninevites to tell them that they had better reflect and repent of their overly
ambitious and vicious methods or their city would be destroyed – as God was
very angry with them over their greedy, grasping and demoralizing behaviors.
On this occasion – it
must have been because he spoke the words of truth to them, as if with the
power of God himself – and his manner of doing it – in a quiet, yet persuasive
way (after all his name meant: “dove”) – and the Ninevites indeed got the
message, they believed God, feared his
wrath, proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth –
a sign of repentance and conversion.
And God saw by their actions how they turned from
their evil way, and he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to
them: he did not carry it out.
And so Jonah was a
quiet yet powerful sign to the Ninevites – a sign of God’s presence, anger, yet
willingness to show compassion and mercy and forgiveness when asked – and a
great city was saved.
Jesus himself, in the
gospel passage, is seen as God basically quiet yet o so powerful presence,
anger at wrongdoing, yet willingness to show compassion and mercy and
forgiveness when asked – set in opposition to the wickedness, evil, lies,
deceptions, blind-sighted acquiescence and support for blatantly greedy,
impractical and selfish motives, lying and cheating that can be present in any
age – was present in the age of the Roman Empire of Jesus’ day – and is present
in our own day and age – especially as demonstrated by the inane and mentally
unstable actions of our president and chief military commander.
The Ninevites may
have wanted to conquer and collect lands, but the present administration is
poised to conquer and collect what is even more precious and fragile and that
is: minds, and hearts and souls. The methods of the Evil One are unmistakable –
and his use of impish and immature pawns is more than visible. It is time to
wake up and fight the roaring lion of the Devil, by teaming with the Lion of
Judah, who has as his sign: the Cross of total defeat and destruction – which
he quietly and yet with all the force in the universe transformed into a Cross
of Victory and Vindication!
The time to choose
sides is now!
Our sacrifices today, Lord, are contrite spirits;
hearts contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn!
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