THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
20 January 2024 –
Harrisburg, St. JPII Parish
Jon 3:1-5, 10
1 Cor 7:29-31
Mk
1:14-20
The Scriptures
for this 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time all contribute to proclaiming the
basic message of Jesus Christ as reported today in the Gospel of Mark. Responding
to the Lord is what our lives as Catholics is all about. Jesus spoke then and
continues to speak to us.
“This
is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe
in the gospel.”
As I say, this
message goes through all the readings for today. In the first reading, after
the account of his attempted flight from God, the prophet Jonah surrenders to
God’s will and fulfills his mission from God Almighty to preach to the wicked
people of Nineveh, that they should repent from their sins, “Set out for the
great city of Nineveh and announce to it the message that I will tell you.” Quite
miraculously and against all odds, the people from greatest to least repented
at the preaching of Jonah.
I think it is of primary importance to
focus on the change of heart which Jonah’s preaching worked in those people,
their turning to God for mercy. To know of their repentance and conversion is
more important than it is to know the details of the bad deeds, sins, or
failings of the Ninevites. We are meant first and foremost to see their turning
generally from ignoring God, from their failure to be responsive to God and His
Will, to turning to Him in weeping, sack cloth and ashes, turning to Him with
all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. When it comes to ignoring the Lord
Who made and saved us, I cannot help but think that perhaps in our day and time
our situation is worse than that of those people to whom Jonah was sent to
preach.
We see this
repeated in the basic message delivered by today’s second reading. There St.
Paul calls the Corinthians and us to radical conversion. “For the world in
its present form is passing away.”
Our world and our Church today has a desperate
need for repentance, of turning from our own ways to seek the face of God and
do His holy will. You’ll get people who are almost hysterical about our living in
the end times, they are troubled and confused. Let us just say that maybe it
would be better to see the horrible straits in which our world finds itself not
knowing really how to respond. Thankfully, they are not few, the people seized
by the urgency of turning their lives over to Christ. Jesus’ message seems to be
coming through again in our time, changing hearts and lives. “This is the
time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the
gospel.”
“Forty more
days and Nineveh shall be destroyed.” What is the great destruction looming on the
horizon for us? What is it that must change in our lives if we are to be saved?
“I tell you, brothers and sisters, the time is running out.” Those are
St. Paul’s words from almost two millennia ago. People will point to what they
call Paul’s alarmism and try to discredit his message, using the argument that
obviously the time hasn’t run out so maybe St. Paul was overstating the case. They,
however, may just be ignoring the teaching from the Book of Jonah. Maybe they
are discounting the possibility that Paul’s preaching saved the world back
then, and that humanity has been saved from destruction by the preaching of the
Church over the centuries and people’s repentance time and time again in
various ages.
Jonah seemed very
much annoyed that God had spared the great city of Nineveh. In a sense, we are
not that different as we may wish contrary to the will of God that our enemies would
be destroyed, unmindful of what the Prophet Ezekiel (18:24) teaches. It is not
God’s will that the sinner die, but rather that he repent and be saved. “Have
I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord GOD, and not rather
that they should turn from their ways and live?”
The question is
how should we respond to the preaching of Christ as carried on in the Church. “This
is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe
in the gospel.”
When Jonah made
his attempt to escape by boat across the sea from God’s will for him, he went
below deck curled up and went to sleep. He tried to crowd the Lord out of his
life and thoughts by not watching and praying with the sailors and the rest of
the passengers on that boat. What then is repentance if not our turning to God by
embracing a life of prayer? Offering each day to Him when we awake, giving
thanks for our food, and examining our conscience at the end of each day. We
must cultivate a sense of the presence of God in our lives. We must rouse
ourselves from sleep so to speak.
Recently, I was impressed by the witness
of two people, one, a woman who was undergoing cancer treatment, who told how a
Catholic lady friend came to visit each day of her treatment to pray the rosary
with her. Her cancer is in remission. She attribute that as much to the Mother
of God as to modern medicine. She will be received into the Catholic Church
this Easter. The other is a former Anglican priest and bishop now a Catholic
convert, who followed the advice of a Catholic priest friend, an exorcist, who told
him that if he wanted to be freed of the torments of Satan, then he should pray
the rosary. Is your life anchored in prayer or are you sleeping somewhere below
deck attempting to flee from God’s love?
The two great
commandments are love of God and love of neighbor. Loving God with all your
heart, soul, mind, and strength is not a question of affection or sentiment. It
is a matter of obedience to His commands, of sorrow and the resolve to make
amends and change when we fail. Why do people hide below deck and refuse to
seek to achieve a regular practice of the Sacrament of Penance in their hearts?
We need to assume responsibility for all the ways we fail God and neighbor.
“This is the
time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the
gospel.”
Praised be Jesus
Christ!
PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI
