1st Week of Lent 2022 - Wednesday - Stop fighting God

 

In his Lenten reflection this morning, Bishop Malesic called the story of Jonah, “the story of a man who did all he could to go in the opposite direction that God had determined for him.” And then the Bishop asks, “Isn’t that the case for many of us?  We know where God wants us to be. We know what God wants us to do?  But we run away in the opposite direction. [But] the story of Jonah reminds us that God will not give up on us.”

Sometimes, it takes a storm to wake us from our spiritual sleep. Perhaps we might even need to be swallowed by a whale in order to be brought to the place where God wants us to be.

Sometimes, what we might describe as terrible forces or sets of circumstances, is God, trying to alert us to the state of our souls, that we’ve been fighting against God, and what God wants for us. We might even have a brush with death in order to reawaken us to the fact that we will stand judgment for our lives and the need to repent. God uses every event of our lives to draw us deeper into relationship with Him, if we are paying attention.

In the first reading, having finally awakened to his prophetic calling through all of these strange and unfortunate events and repented, Jonah is led by God to Nineveh to help them repent. The one who has been awakened by God and repented and granted vision and the words to speak is always sent to help others do the same. 

And, what happens when Jonah, finally surrenders and accepts his prophetic mission? The entire city of 120,000 pagans—nobles and peasants alike—repent, and open their hearts to the God of Israel. God works in mysterious ways to wake us up, that we may become an instrument of purification and enlightenment in the world.

During this Lenten season, we like Jonah are called to repent and surrender to God, recognizing that God has not given up on us, nor has he given up on any of the people of the world, to whom he wants to send us.

May our repentance be sincere. May we stop fighting God, who desires what’s best for us. May our we turn to God with all our hearts and become instruments in the world of faith, hope, and love for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For “an immediate end to the hostilities in Ukraine, for a restoration of peace and for the safety of all Ukrainian citizens. And for the Ukrainian community in Northeast Ohio, that their friends and family members in their beloved homeland be kept out of harm’s way.”

During these 40 days for Life, we pray for the unborn and for a change in laws, policies, and attitudes which devalue the sanctity of life.

For those preparing to enter the Church at Easter: that they will be profoundly blessed in their preparation for full initiation into the Body of Christ.  .

For the needs of the poor, the hungry, the homeless, those who are sick, unemployed, or suffering from addiction, mental, or physical illness, imprisoned, and those most in need: that the Lord in his goodness will be close to them in their trials.  

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all the poor souls in purgatory, and N. for whom this Mass is offered.

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy. Through Christ Our Lord.