If you want to make changes in your life, or in your heart, or in your mind, just remember this one thing: with God, all things are possible.
Last Sunday morning, I experienced what I’d call a driving miracle - while driving down route 24 to Holy Family Parish in East Taunton, I noticed that no one was going over 80 miles per hour.
In fact, no one was going over the speed limit at all. As I drove with the flow, feeling like I was in an alternate reality, I remembered passing two gas stations listing over $4 per gallon gas prices. It seems that my fellow drivers had seen prices like these and had radically changed their driving habits.
The Ninevites, from today’s first reading, experienced a more radical change. They had fallen into serious sin, and then heard God’s message from the prophet Jonah.
Jonah, the same one who ran from God’s mission, only to be swallowed by a whale and live. It must have been convincing coming from Jonah, because in his case, not only was God’s message received, it resulted in a total transformation.
People of all walks of life stopped sinning, did public penance, and prayed to God for mercy. Today, when we sin, we’re only asked to humbly and contritely approach Jesus in the privacy of a Confessional. Sure, someone might see us going to Confession, but we don’t wear sackcloth and sit in ashes in public as even the king of Nineveh did.
Though both the driving story and the Ninevites conversion might seem worlds apart, they hold one thing in common; and that is that with God, change is possible. Whether it seems feasible or not, for us or our family and friends, when we’re motivated by something greater than our past behavior, change can happen.
Jonah was sent to save the Ninevites, but Jesus was sent by the Father to save us. If they could repent and be spared through a prophet, imagine how much more grace we have received through the Son of God being sent to help us repent and live a life of holiness.
I don’t know if I’ll experience all drivers following the speed limit this coming Sunday morning; I’m guessing some will have fallen away from following the law; just as I’d imagine some Ninevites fell into sin too. And, likewise, we experience repentance, forgiveness, and falling too.
During this Lenten Season, we’re called to look at our lives with a sense of hope.
Our hope rests in God’s love for us, and that Jesus has conquered sin and death.
However, what we learn from these moments is that it is possible to grow in holiness, even when it seems unlikely or just about impossible, if only we believe in Jesus who has come to call us to repentance and healing, the One who led each one of us here today, and the One who is calling us to confess our sins, so that we may one day follow Him into Heaven.
May God bless you and your families this holy day, and may we recognize and act on the things we need to change!
Father David's inspirational homily was recorded live this morning during Mass at the Father Peyton Center. Please view the video on our Facebook page. (You don't need a Facebook account to view.)
Reverend David S. Marcham is the Vice Postulator for the Cause of Venerable Patrick Peyton, and Director of the Father Peyton Guild, whose members pray for Father Peyton’s beatification and spread his message of the importance of Family Prayer. Prior to becoming a seminarian, Father David was a physical therapist and clinical instructor, serving hospital inpatients and outpatients throughout the greater Boston area for eleven years. In 1998 he heard the call to priesthood and was ordained in the Archdiocese of Boston in 2005. Father David grew up in Quincy, MA, and has fond memories of playing soccer, tennis and running track. You’re never without a friend when Father David is around, as he welcomes everyone into his circle with a smile on his face!
