March 3, 2004 - Wednesday, 1st Week of Lent

Conversion

Readings:
Jon 3:1-10; Ps 51:3-4, 12-13, 18-19; Lk 11:29-32

Introduction

Even for pagans, even for those known for their cruelty, like the people that enslaved the Jews, it is possible to be converted. When the author of the Book of Jonah told this to the Jews, it was an astonishing message to them. For Jews, yes, but for pagans? Jesus seems to turn things around: pagans turn to God, but you, God’s people, don’t. Aren’t we Christians perhaps too smug too, thinking that we are God’s people, and therefore need no conversion?

Opening Prayer

Forgiving, merciful God,
we pray you for a good measure
of humility and honesty
to acknowledge before you and people
that we are weak and fallible men and women,
who often try to turn a blind eye
to our shortcomings and our sins.
Strong with the grace won in the hard way
by your Son on the cross,
we beg you for the courage
to seek your forgiveness
and to turn and return wholeheartedly to you
and to serve you and people.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Scripture Readings

First Reading: Jon 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.

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 51:3-4, 12-13, 18-19

R (19b) A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
R A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

For you are not pleased with sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
R A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

Gospel Reading: Lk 11:29-32

As the crowd increased, Jesus began to speak in this way, "People of the present time are evil people. They ask for a sign, but no sign will be given to them except the sign of Jonah. As Jonah became a sign for the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be a sign for this generation. The Queen of the South will rise up on Judgment Day with the people of these times and accuse them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and here there is greater than Solomon. The people of Nineveh will rise up on Judgment Day with the people of these times and accuse them, for Jonah's preaching made them turn from their sins, and here there is greater than Jonah."

Commentary

THE Book of Jonah is a delightful and amusing book, and short-about three pages. The introduction to it in the Jerusalem Bible calls it "a droll adventure… and its doctrine is one of the peaks of the Old Testament. Broadminded, it rejects a too rigid interpretation of prophecy…. rejects, too, a narrow racialism…. All the characters of this story are likeable, the pagan sailors, the king, the populace, even the animals of Nineveh…. We are on the threshold of the Gospel."

It's easy to imagine Jesus as a young man hearing it and laughing at the antics of Jonah, and the animals doing penance, and Jonah arguing heatedly with God (God, "Are you right to be angry?" Jonah, "I have every right to be angry!")

In today's passage, Jesus uses Jonah as a headline for his own preaching. That's how close we are to the Gospel. Don't go to bed tonight without reading it!

General Intercessions

–   That God may give to the Church the courage to hear God’s call to constant conversion and renewal, we pray:

–   That we may hear the call of the Lord to become ever more faithful to the gospel, we pray:

–   That the Church and each of us may receive the call of prophets to change what is to be changed, we pray:

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord our God,
your Son Jesus prayed for forgiveness
for those who tortured him.
He invited sinners to his table
as he invites us now.
Let him restore us
and make us receive humbly and graciously
his forgiving love.
May we too restore others
by sharing your mercy with them.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord.

Prayer after Communion

Merciful God,
may we leave this eucharistic celebration
as people changed by the word of Jesus,
knowing where he wants us to go.
And may his bread of life be our strength
to follow the path he has shown us,
the way to you and to people.
For he is our way and our life,
now and for ever.

Blessing

The trouble with us is that we sometimes congratulate ourselves on how good we are. Yet we are called to live the gospel more deeply, that it may be indeed good news for us and for the people around us. May God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

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