20190313
AVOIDING
THE DESTRUCTION OF HUMANITY
13 MARCH, 2019,
Wednesday, 1st Week of Lent
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
Violet.
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First reading
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Jonah 3:1-10 ©
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The Ninevites repent, and God spares
them
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The word of the Lord was addressed a
second time to Jonah: ‘Up!’ he said ‘Go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach
to them as I told you to.’ Jonah set out and went to Nineveh in obedience to
the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was a city great beyond compare: it took
three days to cross it. Jonah went on into the city, making a day’s journey. He
preached in these words, ‘Only forty days more and Nineveh is going to be
destroyed.’ And the people of Nineveh believed in God; they proclaimed a fast
and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least. The news reached the king
of Nineveh, who rose from his throne, took off his robe, put on sackcloth and
sat down in ashes. A proclamation was then promulgated throughout Nineveh, by
decree of the king and his ministers, as follows: ‘Men and beasts, herds and
flocks, are to taste nothing; they must not eat, they must not drink water. All
are to put on sackcloth and call on God with all their might; and let everyone
renounce his evil behaviour and the wicked things he has done. Who knows if God
will not change his mind and relent, if he will not renounce his burning wrath,
so that we do not perish?’ God saw their efforts to renounce their evil
behaviour, and God relented: he did not inflict on them the disaster which he
had threatened.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm
50(51):3-4,12-13,18-19 ©
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A humbled, contrite
heart, O God, you will not spurn.
Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness.
In your compassion blot out my
offence.
O wash me more and more from my guilt
and cleanse me from my sin.
A humbled, contrite
heart, O God, you will not spurn.
A pure heart create for me, O God,
put a steadfast spirit within
me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
nor deprive me of your holy
spirit.
A humbled, contrite
heart, O God, you will not spurn.
For in sacrifice you take no delight,
burnt offering from me you
would refuse,
my sacrifice, a contrite spirit.
A humbled, contrite heart you
will not spurn.
A humbled, contrite
heart, O God, you will not spurn.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Ezk33:11
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Glory and praise to you, O Christ!
I take pleasure, not in the death of a
wicked man
– it is the Lord who speaks –
but in the turning back of a wicked man
who changes his ways to win life.
Glory and praise to you, O Christ!
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Or:
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Joel2:12-13
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Glory and praise to you, O Christ!
Now, now – it is the Lord who
speaks –
come back to me with all your heart,
for I am all tenderness and compassion.
Glory and praise to you, O Christ!
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Gospel
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Luke 11:29-32 ©
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As Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites,
so will the Son of Man be a sign
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The crowds got even bigger, and Jesus
addressed them:
‘This
is a wicked generation; it is asking for a sign. The only sign it will be given
is the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will
the Son of Man be to this generation. On Judgement day the Queen of the South
will rise up with the men of this generation and condemn them, because she came
from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is
something greater than Solomon here. On Judgement day the men of Nineveh will
stand up with this generation and condemn it, because when Jonah preached they
repented; and there is something greater than Jonah here.’
AVOIDING THE
DESTRUCTION OF HUMANITY
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ Jonah 3:1-10; Ps 51:3-4, 12-13, 18-19; Luke 11:29-32 ]
Jonah was sent to preach
repentance to the city of Nineveh.
This was the most important city in the kingdom of Assyria. But it was a
notorious and wicked city. The Assyrians were a proud people and the
leaders thought highly of their military might and power. They were
heartless and committed atrocious acts of cruelty. Indeed, they
were the most hated and feared enemy of Israel. Hence, we can understand
why Jonah was reluctant to go to Nineveh to preach the message of repentance as
commanded by the Lord. It is a human response to feel that such evil
people deserve to be destroyed by their evil deeds and sins. To try and
get them to repent would mean that the disasters that Jonah hoped would befall
them could be halted. So it was out of hatred for the Assyrians that
Jonah fled from the assignment that the Lord gave to him.
Eventually, he went out
of obedience to the Lord, albeit reluctantly, to warn them of the imminent
destruction. “The word of the
Lord was addressed to Jonah: ‘Up!’ he said, ‘Go to Nineveh, the great city, and
preach to them as I told you to.’ Jonah set out and went to Nineveh in
obedience to the word of the Lord.” He warned the inhabitants, “Only
forty days more and Nineveh is going to be destroyed.” And we are told
that “the people of Nineveh believed in God; they proclaimed a fast and put on
sackcloth, from the greatest to the least. The news reached the king of
Nineveh, who rose from his throne, took off his robe, put on sackcloth and sat
down in ashes.” He even promulgated a decree ordering all the peoples to
fast, “put on sackcloth and call on God with all their might; and let everyone
renounce his evil behaviour and the wicked things he has done.”
This is the same message
the Church is also telling the world. Humanity has fallen into a state of
worsening degeneration. We
see these signs everywhere. Secularism has put God out of circulation in
society. Relativism has blurred the distinction between what is right and
wrong, good and evil. Technology has made man so proud of himself that he
thinks he can build the world and find happiness without God. Affluence
has made man a slave to the flesh and to the pleasures of the world. As a
result, we see the institutions of marriage and family under attack
today. Strong marriages and families, which are the bedrock of society,
are weakened. Even the question of the gender of a human person is put in
question. As a result of an amoral society, we see increasing cases of
child abuse, widespread pornography, terrorist activities, senseless killings,
acceptance of abortion and euthanasia, justification of wars and drugs for
personal pleasure, promotion of promiscuity and infidelity in marriages,
etc. When we allow such trends to continue, then humanity is on its way
to destruction because with more broken families, dysfunctional children and
marriages, a society that is oblivious to what is good and bad for them, we
will destroy ourselves. In the name of freedom, we have allowed ourselves
to become slaves to the world, to the flesh and to the evil influence of Satan.
Beyond these signs,
because of the selfishness of man towards the planet, scientists and
environmentalists have warned us about the dangers of climate change. The effects of global warming
are everywhere. Not only do we have rising temperatures but we are seeing
the effects of extreme weather, melting glaciers, rising seas, forest fires,
destruction of wildlife and the spread of diseases. The world will be
extinct if no action is taken. But few are taking heed of this urgency to
protect the ecology. Businesses just want to make more money at the expense of
deforestation, pollution of our waters, excessive heating up of the
planet. But who cares, as we all think this will not happen in our
time. Let the next generation suffer and let them solve this problem
themselves. We just enjoy ourselves and continue to abuse creation for
our selfish needs without caring for the world tomorrow.
Indeed, we see all the
signs of imminent destruction of humanity but we are not moved! We are like the people during the time of
Jesus, still asking for signs. Jesus remarked, “This is a wicked
generation; it is asking for a sign. The only sign it will be given is the sign
of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of
Man be to this generation.” We have the sign of Jonah and the Ninevites
present in our time when we study the amoral and individualistic outlook of
society. But we are not paying attention to them. We are still
asking for signs.
Asking for further signs
is but a mere distraction. The truth is that we do not want to
change. We
are indifferent to what is happening. We are numb to our spiritual
blindness and sensitivity to sin. We have been so secularized by the
world, the mass media, the values of society that we cannot hear the voice of
God and the prophets that He sends us to urge us to repentance. Indeed,
we are like the people during the time of Jesus who had Jesus with them.
He performed all the miracles and yet they were still asking for signs!
Jesus was the Word of God in person. He was the Wisdom and truth of
God. But they could not accept. They pretended to listen to Him but
their hearts and minds were unconverted. Hence, the Lord said, “On
Judgement day the Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this
generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to
hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here.
On Judgement day the men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation and
condemn it, because when Jonah preached they repented; and there is something
greater than Jonah here.”
Unlike us, the leaders
and the people of Nineveh, upon hearing the warning of destruction, took heed
of the message of Jonah even though he was not one of them. They believed the message and repented
immediately. Not only did they stop sinning but they turned away from
their evil ways. They realized that if they were to continue their sinful
lives, their peoples would be destroyed. The only way to prevent such
disasters from taking place was to turn to God and away from evil. They
said, “Who knows if God will not change his mind and relent, if he will not
renounce his burning wrath, so that we do not perish?”
In truth, God
immediately forgives anyone who turns away from sin because He wants us to live
and not die. The
Lord said through prophet Ezekiel, “If the wicked turn away from all their sins
that they have committed and keep all my statutes and do what is lawful and
right, they shall surely live; they shall not die.” (cf Ez 18:21-24) St Paul wrote, “If you sow
to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to
the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit.” (Gal 6:8) In other words, the judgement
is brought upon us not directly by God but by our sins. We reap what we
sow. This is what is meant is when we read, “God saw their efforts to
renounce their evil behaviour. And God relented: he did not inflict on them the
disaster which he threatened.” This is what the psalmist says, “For in
sacrifice you take no delight, burnt offering from me you would refuse, my
sacrifice, a contrite spirit. A humbled, contrite heart you will not
spurn.”
This invitation to
repentance must begin from each one of us, from the clergy and religious to lay
leaders and the ordinary Catholic.
The problem is that the most difficult people to convert are those who think
they are holy and good Catholics. They are so used to teaching people
about what is truth and what is right but fail to reflect for themselves
whether they are practising what they preach. Indeed, the greatest
obstacle in repentance is always the sin of spiritual pride and
blindness. When we are not aware of our own sinfulness, thinking that we
are good enough, the call to repentance does not strike our hearts
deeply. We say to ourselves that this message of repentance is for others
but not for me. So there is no real conversion on our part. We are so
used to the gospel message that we do not enter deeply into ourselves to
examine our sinfulness. We need to pray for a humble and contrite heart
to see ourselves before the goodness and mercy of God, if we are to seek true
repentance of our sins of neglect and indifference towards God and the need of
our brothers and sisters.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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