Minutes from our recent Parish Pastoral Council meetings - VIEW HERE
The readings of this weekend are focused on highlighting the theme of repentance. Jonah, a reluctant Jewish prophet, was sent to preach repentance to the Ninevites. He had no enthusiasm for the job, as he was a fervent patriot and begrudged God squandering his mercy on non-Jews; but God thought otherwise. To Jonah’s intense annoyance, when he preached, the people mended their ways and their city was spared. God’s call for repentance is based on his love and respect for us. It’s the affirmation of basic worth and pre-supposes that we are valuable. Unless we are moved by this feeling of worthiness in the love of God, we do miss the point of the gospel’s call to repentance.
The apostles’ response to the call was their realisation that something better was on offer, an invitation to a higher way of life. To such an invitation there could be only one response: to repent and believe the Good News. Repentance is not as easy as it appears. It’s more than an extra prayer, doing a stint of fasting and being sorry for past sins. In the gospel it is quite evident that ‘Leaving our nets’ and disentangling ourselves from worldly pursuits in order to follow Jesus is not a one-off decision. It’s an ongoing battle and the challenge of a lifetime. We have to constantly look at our sinfulness, reassess our behaviour in the light of the gospel.
We need to repent and change our ways no less than the people of Nineveh. The story of Jonah speaks to us about our own closed minds, hardened attitudes and bigotry. The thorns and barriers of hatred and prejudice are deeply ingrained in our being and can only be rooted out by repentance, and a change of heart. If the people of Nineveh could place their faith in the preaching of a Jewish prophet and change their lives accordingly, how can we be less generous to Christ who died to save us? The good news is that God’s loving mercy is available to all who repent, whoever they are, wherever they live and whatever they have done. By choosing to repent we can change our lives.
Repent and believe the Good News.
Have a great weekend.