Jonah |
The story of
Jonah has great theological import. It concerns a disobedient prophet who
rejected his divine commission, was cast overboard in a storm and swallowed by
a great fish, rescued in a marvelous manner, and returned to his starting
point. Now he obeys and goes to Nineveh, the capital of Israel’s ancient enemy.
The Ninevites listen to his message of doom and repent immediately. All, from
king to lowliest subject, humble themselves in sackcloth and ashes. Seeing
their repentance, God does not carry out the punishment planned for them. At
this, Jonah complains, angry because the Lord spares them. This fascinating
story caricatures a narrow mentality which would see God’s interest extending
only to Israel, whereas God is presented as concerned with and merciful to even
the inhabitants of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire which brought
the Northern Kingdom of Israel to an end and devastated Jerusalem in 701 B.C.
The Lord is free to “repent” and change his mind. Jonah seems to realize this
possibility and wants no part in it. But the story also conveys something of
the ineluctable character of the prophetic calling. The book is replete with
irony, wherein much of its humor lies. The name “Jonah” means “dove” in Hebrew,
but Jonah’s character is anything but dove-like. Jonah is commanded to go east
to Nineveh but flees toward the westernmost possible point, only to be
swallowed by a great fish and dumped back at this starting point. The sailors
pray to their gods, but Jonah is asleep in the hold. The prophet’s preaching is
a minimum message of destruction, while it is the king of Nineveh who calls for
repentance and conversion; the instant conversion of the Ninevites is greeted
by Jonah with anger and sulking. He reproaches the Lord in words that echo
Israel’s traditional praise of his mercy. Jonah is concerned about the loss of
the gourd but not about the possible destruction of 120,000 Ninevites. Unlike
other prophetic books, this is not a collection of oracles but the story of a
disobedient, narrow-minded prophet who is angry at the outcome of the sole
message he delivers. It is difficult to date but almost certainly is postexilic
and may reflect the somewhat narrow, nationalistic reforms of Ezra and
Nehemiah. As to genre, it has been classified in various ways, such as parable
or satire. The “sign” of Jonah is interpreted in two ways in the New Testament:
His experience of three days and nights in the fish is a “type” of the
experience of the Son of Man, and the Ninevites’ reaction to the preaching of
Jonah is contrasted with the failure of Jesus’ generation to obey the preaching
of one who is “greater than Jonah”[1].
aPRIL 24
Tuesday
feast
of saint fidelis
Jonah,
Chapter 1, Verse 5
5 Then the sailors
were afraid and each one cried to his
god. To lighten the ship for themselves, they threw its cargo into the sea.
Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship, and lay there fast
asleep.
According to bible-study-for-everyone.com[2]:
Christians regard the
prophet Jonah as a type foreshadowing Jesus. Jesus said that he did not come
for the healthy but for the sick. The healthy are well and they know it. So,
they have no need of a doctor. But the sick may be diseased and not know it.
They require someone to diagnose their sickness and prescribe the remedy. They
need a healer. People can be sick physically. And they can be sick mentally,
spiritually, emotionally. For instance, the physical ailment of blindness is
plain because the person cannot see. But there is also the blindness of
selfishness. People can be blind in many ways. A person can be blind to
themselves. They see with their eyes but they do not understand what they see.
Or they can be blind as to their experience. They interact with their world and
with other people but remain isolated and lonely because they cannot see the
depth and love within their relationships. Or they have very deep emotional or
mental feelings but they do not see (understand) from where the feelings came.
They do not know what the feelings indicate. They are in the dark as to any
remedy. Jesus came in order for us to understand, to see and gain a remedy. He
came as the source of knowledge, as light in darkness and as the cure for our
illness. Those in light do not need a lamp but those in darkness need the
light. Jesus was sent as the light that shines in the darkness. From the
beginning to the end of the bible the theme is repeated. Humankind is lost due
to deafness, blindness, ignorance, stupidity, arrogance, selfishness and greed.
That is the first act of the play. The second act is God seeking and searching
for lost humankind, looking for them in the various places of their fear, the haunts of darkness, the hiding
places of those who are afraid of God. The final act is played out in the
response of each individual and society, each nation and epoch of human
history.
Will man and God be
enemies or friends? Will God win and regain the trust and fidelity of his creation?
Or will humankind forever remain estranged? Will the people always wander
outside in the desolation or will they be admitted once again into the intimacy
of the Garden of Paradise?
Christ proposed as the distinctive
sign of his disciples the law of love and the gift of self for others. Against
this backdrop of love so central to the Christian experience of marriage and
the family, another virtue stands out, one often overlooked in our world of
frenzied and superficial relationships. It is tenderness. The word of God tells
us that the family is entrusted to a man, a woman and their children, so that
they may become a communion of persons in the image of the union of the Father,
the Son and the Holy Spirit. The family is called to join in daily prayer, to
read the word of God and to share in Eucharistic communion, and thus to grow in
love and become ever more fully a temple in which the Spirit dwells. Every
family should look to the icon of the Holy Family of Nazareth. Like Mary, we are asked to face our family’s challenges with courage and
serenity, in good times and bad, and to keep in our hearts the great things which God has done. An excellent program that is modeled on the
Holy Family is available on line. (http://thechoicewine.org/)
Saint
Fidelis[4]
Saint
Fidelis who became a martyr and was murdered for his faith in 1622, while
traveling back to his home church after preaching in Seewis, Switzerland to
former Catholics who had converted to Calvinism. Saint Fidelis on the day of
his martyrdom preached with great energy, he exhorted the Catholics to constancy
in the faith. After a Calvinist had discharged his musket at him
in the Church, the Catholics entreated him to leave the place. He answered that
death was his gain and his joy, and that he was ready to lay down his life in
God's cause. On his road back to Grüsch, he met twenty Calvinist soldiers with
a minister at their head. They called him a false prophet, and urged him to
embrace their sect. He answered: "I am sent to you to confute, not to
embrace your heresy. The Catholic religion is the faith of all ages, I fear not
death." One of them beat him down to the ground by a stroke on the head
with his backsword. Fidelis rose again on his knees and stretching forth his
arms in the form of a cross, said with a feeble voice "Pardon my enemies,
O Lord: blinded by passion they know not what they do. Lord Jesus, have mercy
on me. Mary,
Mother of God,
succor me!" Another sword stroke clove his skull, and he fell to the
ground and lay in a pool of his own blood. The soldiers, not content with this,
added many stab
wounds to his body with their long knives, and hacked-off his left leg, as they
said, to punish him for his many journeys into those parts to preach to them. How
shall we deal with truly evil people?
In
Judaism, the Amalekites came to represent the archetypal enemy of the Jews. In
the Jewish folklore the Amalekites are considered to be the symbol of evil.
This concept has been used by some Hassidic rabbis (particularly the Baal Shem
Tov) to represent atheism or the rejection of God. Elliot Horowitz and Josef
Stern suggest that Amalekites have come to represent an "eternally
irreconcilable enemy" that wants to murder Jews, and that Jews in
post-biblical times sometimes associate contemporary enemies with Haman or
Amalekites, and that some Jews believe that pre-emptive violence is acceptable
against such enemies.[5]
The truly wicked are animals as the bible mentions
they are wolves in sheep’s clothing. Strong men and women whether laity or religious
have a duty to protect the flock; they are the shepherds of the church that
protect the weaker ones. Who are the Amalekites of our time; how shall we
recognize them.
According to Christian Counselor Lesie Vernick[6] there are five indicators that
you may be dealing with an evil heart rather than an ordinary sinful heart.
·
Evil
hearts are experts at creating confusion and contention. They twist the facts,
mislead, lie, avoid taking responsibility, deny reality, make up stories, and
withhold information.
·
Evil
hearts are experts at fooling others with their smooth speech and flattering
words. But if you look at the fruit of their lives or the follow through of
their words, you will find no real evidence of godly growth or change. It’s all
smoke and mirrors.
·
Evil
hearts crave and demand control, and their highest authority is their own
self-reference. They reject feedback, real accountability, and make up their
own rules to live by. They use Scripture to
their own advantage but ignore and reject passages that might require
self-correction and repentance.
·
Evil
hearts play on the sympathies of good-willed people, often trumping the grace
card. They demand mercy but give none themselves. They demand warmth,
forgiveness, and intimacy from those they have harmed with no empathy for the
pain they have caused and no real intention of making amends or working hard to
rebuild broken trust.
·
Evil
hearts have no conscience, no remorse. They do not struggle against sin or
evil—they delight in it—all the while masquerading as someone of noble
character.
Hmm…sounds like politicians to me? I would like to
finish with some thoughts of Saint John Paul II on the subject.
I
once again address the leaders of nations and all men and women of good will,
who recognize the need to build peace in the world…"Do not be overcome by
evil, but overcome evil with good" (12:21). Evil is never defeated by
evil; once that road is taken, rather than defeating evil, one will instead be
defeated by evil.[7]
God has created men by nature and vocation with a natural desire for Himself and men can only find happiness in God. But men become lost as they seek God due to ignorance and sin. Realizing real dangers in the world and the God-implanted understanding of the need for salvation, men aspire to heroic deeds and seek courageous heroes to protect and lead them through the challenges of life. The desire and need for true heroes is perennial in the hearts of men across time and cultures. From an early age, boys naturally seek heroes. They look up to their fathers, older boys and other men as role models and as defenders/protectors. Boys are intrigued by the heroic deeds of fictional characters (e.g. Superheroes in movies, TV and books, videogame heroes, sports heroes, etc.). Boys admire and seek those with heroic virtues. When grown, men continue to seek heroes. Some continue on with the fictional heroes of youth, trading comic books for the action/superheroes and celebrities in the media. Most men also look up to heroes in real life. Many follow and celebrate sports teams and athletes. Others admire and follow politicians, social activists or business leaders. Still others look up to and follow real life heroes in the military (Medal of Honor winners), religion (saints) and people who perform extraordinary deeds in the face of tough challenges (911 responders, those who battle life-challenging illnesses). All men, in some way, desire to be heroes and to associate themselves with heroic leaders.
27
The
desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and
for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find
the truth and happiness he never stops searching for:
The dignity of
man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with God. This
invitation to converse with God is addressed to man as soon as he comes into
being. For if man exists it is because God has created him through love, and
through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according
to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his
creator.
397 Man, tempted by the devil, let his trust in his Creator die in his heart and, abusing his freedom, disobeyed God's command. This is what man's first sin consisted of. All subsequent sin would be disobedience toward God and lack of trust in his goodness.
Men fall for false heroes
The Definition of “Hero”
Jesus – The True Hero
·
Jesus is
infinitely higher above all other heroes – He is the Son of God; there can be no hero
that compares. Heroes come and go, but only Jesus is the long-awaited
Messiah. No hero, except Jesus, was anticipated for thousands of years
before His birth and remains a hero two millennia after His death (and
Resurrection).
·
He physically
protects people on earth –
He saves the Disciples who are in fear of drowning. He stands up to the
bloodthirsty mob that is going to stone the adulterous woman. He protects the
disciples from the violent legion when He is taken in the Garden. He is
the ultimate protector.
·
Jesus is the
perfect demonstration of virtue –
He demonstrates prudence, temperance, justice and fortitude and charity with
perfection that no man has met, or can ever, match.
·
He heals people
from sickness, madness and death –
Jesus healed the multitudes of every illness and raises them from the dead.
·
He stands for
Truth against falsehood –
Repeatedly, He confronts the Pharisees and the Sadducees and corrects their
falsehoods, despite their collusion to kill Him. He refuses to yield to
Pilate, even as Pilate threatens Him with death. Jesus is Truth itself.
·
Jesus defeats
man’s greatest foe, Satan –
There is no greater enemy of man than Satan. Jesus defeats Satan when
tempted in the Wilderness, by casting out demons, and by using the
Satan-inspired evil of Judas for the Glory of the Cross and Resurrection (CCC
2853). He defeats Satan on his home turf (Hell) when Jesus descends to
offer His “redemptive works to all men of all times and all places…” (CCC
634). Only Jesus delivers us from evil.
634 "The gospel was preached even to the dead." The descent into hell brings the Gospel message of salvation to complete fulfillment. This is the last phase of Jesus' messianic mission, a phase which is condensed in time but vast in its real significance: the spread of Christ's redemptive work to all men of all times and all places, for all who are saved have been made sharers in the redemption.
·
He defeats
man’s greatest scourge, Sin –
He saves people from sin (CCC 2854). For example, He tells the sinful
woman at Simon the Pharisee’s house, “Your faith has saved you; go in
peace”
.
2854
When
we ask to be delivered from the Evil One, we pray as well to be freed from all
evils, present, past, and future, of which he is the author or instigator. In
this final petition, the Church brings before the Father all the distress of
the world. Along with deliverance from the evils that overwhelm humanity, she
implores the precious gift of peace and the grace of perseverance in
expectation of Christ's return By praying in this way, she anticipates in
humility of faith the gathering together of everyone and everything in him who
has "the keys of Death and Hades," who "is and who was and who
is to come, the Almighty."
·
Deliver
us, Lord, we beseech you, from every evil and grant us peace in our day, so
that aided by your mercy we might be ever free from sin and protected from all
anxiety, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus
Christ.
·
He sacrifices
Himself for others – Jesus makes an infinite sacrifice, for His life is
of infinite value and he gives it for the sins of all mankind. He chooses
a horrible death freely, saying, “Greater love has no man than this that a man
lay down his life for his friends.”
·
He offers
salvation for all mankind – His Name means “God saves” (CCC
430) and it is only the name of Jesus that can actually save. “Christ’s
whole life is a mystery of redemption. Redemption comes to us above
all through the blood of His cross…” (CCC 517). “He who believes and is
baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be
condemned”. “For the Son of man came to seek and to save the
lost.” “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever
believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
517
Christ's
whole life is a mystery of redemption. Redemption comes to us above all
through the blood of his cross, but this mystery is at work throughout Christ's
entire life:
- Already in his Incarnation through
which by becoming poor he enriches us with his poverty;
- In his hidden life which by his
submission atones for our disobedience;
- In his word which purifies its
hearers;
- In his healings and exorcisms by which
"he took our infirmities and bore our diseases";
- And in his Resurrection by which he
justifies us.
·
He is
recognized as a Savior during His life on earth – The Samaritans profess,
“It is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard for
ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”
Daily Devotions
·
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