Lenten message from Pope Francis from Fratelli Tutti: No. 17

Some parts of our human family it appears can be readily sacrificed  for the sake of others considered worthy of a carefree existence.

TODAY'S WORD

By


Fr. Aloysius Santiago sdb
Rector and Parish Priest
Don Bosco Shrine
Lingarajapuram, Bangalore

Jonah: 3:10 "When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed His mind about the calamity that He had said He would bring upon them; and He did not do it."

TODAY'S REFLECTION

I have often been struck by those sayings of Jesus in today’s gospel reading, ‘There is something greater than Solomon here… There is something greater than Jonah here’. 

It was as if Jesus was trying to get his contemporaries to appreciate the full reality of his identity and ministry.

They were looking but not really seeing and listening but not really hearing. 

They were looking for a sign, when Jesus was already giving them more signs than they needed, if only they were attentive. 

The Lord remains present to us in all his ‘fullness’, in the language of the fourth gospel. 

We can easily fail to appreciate the full reality of his presence and ministry among us. 

We too can look but fail to see, listen but fail to hear. 

It can happen that people only discover the richness of their faith after many years, often quite late in life. 

Their relationship with the Lord has been there but somewhat dormant. 

Then something comes along that makes them value that relationship more fully. 

They begin to appreciate in a new way the ‘something greater’ that Jesus talks about in the gospel reading. 

There is always a ‘something greater’ to be discovered in our relationship with the Lord. 

There is always more to our faith than we appreciate at any one time in our lives. 

We are on a journey of endless discovery when it comes to our relationship with the Lord and all it implies for ourselves and our world. 

It is an adventure that it always before us to be explored. 


QUESTIONS TO PONDER

1. How could Jonah's ONE DAY MSG, lead the Ninevehites to REPENT for 40 long days?

2.. How should this ENCOURAGE US?


RESOLUTION

Let's resolve to discover  ‘something greater’ everyday


Have an awesome day, May God cover you with his precious blood.