Wednesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
The soap opera continues! Just when we thought the reluctant Jonah would finally accept his role as missionary to the people of Nineveh, there is another upset. He allows his emotions to overrule sound judgment. He is angry, and of all things, he is angry because God is not angry! The threatened destruction which perhaps he enjoyed describing with such relish didn’t happen. We see before us a shrinking man, a man shrinking in character and in stature to the point where even a weed was big enough to give him shade. The story provides a wonderful description of mankind’s pettiness and selfishness in contrast to God’s merciful patience and unconditional love. When was the last time our pettiness overshadowed good judgment?
In a wonderful balance, today’s Gospel in which Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray, provides the foundation for prayer and our personal relationship with God Our Father. With challenging honesty and humility, we are taught to examine every significant human interchange. If we have hurt someone, we must ask for forgiveness. Likewise, if we are hurt, we must humbly accept their offer of forgiveness. It is the Father’s unconditional love that hovers over us in the shade of the person of Jesus. It is Jesus who picks us up in our smallness to make of us something beautiful for God. When was the last time we prayed the Lord’s Prayer slowly enough to pray it with the hope and trust of a child?
Reflection by Fr. Daniel Petsche, OSB
Posted in Lenten Resources