The first reading at Mass today is a part of the story of Jonah. Today’s reading begins:
“The Word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time” (Jonah 3:1).
What about the first time?
Jonah wanted nothing to do with the Word of the Lord when God first addressed him and told him to go Nineveh and preach repentance in order that the people be saved. Why didn’t Jonah initially go? It wasn’t that he was afraid. Quite the contrary. Jonah imagined he would succeed and he didn’t want the inhabitants of Nineveh to be spared. Any other prophet would have been exuberant to have been so successful. Jonah sulks to the point of wanting to die. God patiently tries to teach Jonah about the power of compassion.
- What is God asking you to do?
- Are you resisting God’s promptings? How?
- How have your experienced compassion? How have you shared compassion with others?
