Wednesday of the First Week of Lent
March 1, 2023
Daily Reading from the USCCB: Jonah 3:1-10
The Book of Jonah is the story of a reluctant prophet. God sends Jonah to preach repentance to the people of Nineveh. Jonah resists God’s will for as long as he can. He’s convinced that the pagan people of Nineveh don’t deserve a chance to repent.
Jonah finally does get around to proclaiming to the Ninevites that God is going to destroy their great city within 40 days. To Jonah’s surprise and disappointment the Ninevites repent of their sinfulness, and the city is spared. It’s as if God had changed his mind about punishing them.
God seems always willing to change his mind about punishment for those people who show even the least sign of repentance. God will not spurn a contrite and humble heart.
I love God with my whole heart because of his great compassionate heart. Lord, in the name of Jesus, help me to be more like you. Sometimes, like Jonah, I am unwilling to venture into new areas in God’s vineyard because of feelings of inadequacy, forgetting that God has implanted in me, ‘not a spirit of temerity, but one of power, love and self-control’. I thank God that he doesn’t give up on us, but waits patiently for us to repent and return to doing his will.