Friday, August 5, 2022

Friday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Nahum 2:1.3,3:1-3.6-7; Matthew 16:24-28)

Today’s first reading from the Book of the prophet Nahum predicts the fall of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire.  The Book of the prophet Jonah paints a very positive picture of Nineveh.  According to it, every man, woman, child, and even animal did penance for the sins of the nation. Jonah’s description portrait is a startling contrast from how Nahum sees the city.

More realistically, Nahum calls Nineveh a city of blood, lies and plunder.  He sees it falling under the weight of its own evil.  Its destruction is “good news” for Israel who suffered terribly from its invasion.  According to the prophet, Israel can now live in peace.  However, the Medes and Babylonians, who conquered Assyria, will inflict a similar oppression on Israel.  God’s people will have to wait for the more fair-minded minded Persians to know a peace worth having.

In today’s gospel Jesus speaks of the cost of a true and lasting peace.  It is not won by military expedition but by following Jesus himself.  One must take up one’s cross with patience as well as courage as Jesus bore his.  We must exhibit a love like Jesus’ if we are to experience the peace of his kingdom.

Homilette for Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Wednesday of the First Week in Lent

(Jonah 3:1-10; Luke 11:29-32)

Ancient Nineveh lay in the area of the current Iraqi city of Mosul. No existing historical records indicate Jonah’s preaching there, but there is a site called “Jonah’s Tomb.” Devout Muslims and curious tourists gather at the place to recall the reluctant prophet whose preaching is said to have converted a notoriously bad city of its evil ways.

The first reading shows Jonah announcing God’s wrath with Nineveh and the people responding. The author of the story emphasizes how it is a sincere, communal repentance. Not only common people but also the king and even the animals of the city fast and change heart. In the gospel Jesus calls his generation “evil” because it refuses to change accordingly despite his best efforts at preaching reform.

We too must repent of our sins wholeheartedly. This means that we don’t just say we are sorry or we don’t just go to confession. These are empty gestures if they are not accompanied by a change of attitude as well as practice. A young woman once confessed of having sexual relations with her boyfriend. “Will you promise not to have sex with him again?” the priest asked. “No,” she answered that she would not promise that. Then the priest said that he could not give her absolution. Just so, unless we promise whole-heartedly to stop taking God’s name in vain or to stop talking unjustly about others, we have not really repented of our sins.

Homilette for Monday, October 8, 2007

Monday, XXVII Week of Ordinary Time

(Jonah 1.1-2.2;11)

Americans may today recognize the city of Mosul in Iraq because of the violence that continually flares up there. But more would recognize the city by its former name, Nineveh, capital of the ancient kingdom of Assyria. In that city lies the shrine of the burial place of the prophet Jonah which many Muslims and some tourists visit. The sanctuary, however, is something of a ruse. It does not go back to anywhere near Biblical times. Even if it did, we know that the character Jonah is really a literally fiction.

Of course, this does not mean that the Bible is in error. Quite the contrary, the Book of the Prophet Jonah brilliantly reveals the will of God. It shows God’s plan to save the whole world and not just a relatively small number of Israelites. Equally significant, Jonah demonstrates how the proudest of people can repent of their sins.

The passage we read from Jonah today pictures pagan sailors (could we think of any group more hardened?) scandalized by Jonah’s disobeying God’s command and then begging God for mercy. This sentiment and action directly oppose the response of the Israelites to God during the period of the latter kings. They notoriously abandoned the Law without looking back. God takes pity on the sailors by calming the seas despite their atrocious act of human sacrifice. We should listen to the story as yet another reminder of God’s love despite our sins and His mercy always available upon sincere request.

Homilette for Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Tuesday, IX Week -- Memorial of St. Boniface

(Tobit 2)

Tobit tries to please God and to help his neighbor. But often his emotions overcome his better judgment moving him to make terrible blunders. In the episode of his story today he accuses his hard-working wife of stealing. We can almost hear Tobit cry out in remorse, “God, what a mess I make of everything. Why don’t you take my life?” Perhaps some of us, after having submitting to similarly impulsive tendencies, have felt the same self-disgust.

Neither Tobit nor we need despair, however. God hears the cries of those who call to him. We must curb the inclination to judge others’ harshly while continuing to live according to God’s commands. Later this week we will see how Tobit’s story ends happily as indeed will ours when we remain faithful.

As an aside, we can note that Tobit lives in ancient Nineveh which is presently the city of Mosul in Iraq. Persecution there today resembles that of twenty-seven hundred years ago when Tobit was a minority Jew among the Assyrian populace. Radical Muslim elements are now targeting Christians there. On Sunday, a Chaldean rite priest and three young deacons were found murdered outside their church. According to the Vatican press report, no one dared to pick up their bodies out of fear of being attacked. We want to pray in solidarity for Iraqi Christians and indeed for all suffering such outrage.