40 Shades of Lent by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Wednesday, First Week in Lent, 12 March 2025 Jonah 3:1-10 + + + Luke 11:29-32
Fill me, O God, with wonder and awe for you like Jonah! Surprise me always of your goodness among your peoples; help me in my unbelief!
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 (Jonah 3:1-5).
Loving God our Father, you are so great and awesome, more wide than the great city of Nineveh yet so mysterious that Jonah himself could not believe what he had seen: the people of Nineveh believed in you and repented a mere half day yet when he proclaimed your message to them! Many times in life, we are like Jonah - very reluctant in following you, in obeying you because your ways are so different, even beyond comprehension yet so real; many times, we feel we know more than you know; most of all, most of the time, we insist our own even to you. Sorry, Lord.
In this Season of Lent, banish our evil thoughts, banish the many reasons and explanations we have to open our minds and our hearts to your mysteries so we may read your many signs of presence and power, love and mercy for us even in this time in the world when it has become more difficult to believe in you due to modern trends, most especially of our own stubbornness; grant us that same disposition you gave Jonah who finally believed and obeyed you in doing your work in the way you want it done. Amen.
