Monday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

Jesus is asked, or demanded, to give a sign. Jesus offers the scribes and the teachers nothing less than the Sign of Jonah. Jonah, or Jonas, preached repentance to the city of Nineveh. He called the people of that city to repent of their shameful ways and to come to authentic conversion. Jonah himself had attempted to flee from the Lord. He was wholeheartedly surprised to receive his comeuppance when he was swallowed by a great fish. Jesus foretold that “the Son of Man” would spend three days in the tomb the way Jonah spent three days in the belly of the whale. Jesus tells the crowd that there is something greater than Jonah here. There is something greater than Solomon here. That “something greater” is found in Jesus Himself. He is the savior of the World, the Sign of Jonah, calling all to conversion of heart.

Again today, it is wise to look to Thomas Merton for guidance. He understood well that Jesus offers something greater than all the world could offer. He came to learn the importance of conversion in one’s life. He, like the prophet Jonah, had first ignored and had run from his calling. At one point in The Seven Story Mountain, someone suggested to Merton that he pursue a vocation with the Trappists. He denied this advice outright at first. Later on, he joined Our Lady of Gethsemane, a Trappist monastery, and came to find his real vocation there. He even wrote another biography titled The Sign of Jonas to detail his ongoing journey once he was ordained to the priesthood. He indeed lived out the Sign of Jonah in his own life.

Reflection: Can you remember a time in your own life when you were running from something which you were expected to do or asked to do? Did that later become a source of grace for you? Safe to say, we all have Jonah moments in our lives.

Reflection by Br. Matthew Marie, OSB