Today’s readings focus on two essential elements of our walk with Jesus: prayer and forgiveness. Yesterday, our Holy Cross Family Ministries Team in Easton spent the day, as Father Fred said, with our computers off and our hearts and minds open to God.
We were led on a day of recollection by Father Kevin Cook of the Diocese of Fall River. Father Cook spoke about why and how we pray, as well as how to know we are growing in our relationship with Jesus in prayer. It can be helpful to take some time in a different place than usual to be able to both listen to and speak to God.
I’d say Jonah fits into that category. By the way, don’t you feel for Jonah? God gives him the tough job of calling the Ninevites to conversion; he’s so afraid he tries to run away from God, but then follows God’s instructions, overcoming his fears. Miraculously, the Ninevites repent, and Nineveh is saved. Seems like this is when the music and credits should roll, signifying a good ending. Instead, we learn that Jonah was greatly displeased because God hadn’t followed through on a severe punishment of the Ninevites.
Looking at it from Jonah’s perspective, he’d been through a lot to do God’s will. He had risked his life to tell a people he greatly disliked about God’s call to conversion, and against all odds, it worked. The people repented, and God, in His mercy, forgave the people, much to the chagrin of Jonah.
This happens in families among children every day. An older brother or sister warns their sibling about something that their parents told them to avoid, and their advice is ignored. It could have been going on for a while, and the words, “you’re going to get it when Dad gets home” may have been used. However, the punishment is less than what the older sibling hoped for. The children might even complain to their parents that they’re too merciful. This story repeats itself as children grow older, too, extending beyond their families.
Yesterday, in one of his talks, Father Cook reminded us that prayer allows us to grow in our relationship with God, which increases our ability to be more like God. In Jonah’s case and ours, prayer allows us to unite our hearts and minds to the mercy of God for others.
Jesus shows us how to pray, both to give and to receive forgiveness, each time we pray the Our Father. Jesus knows we need God’s grace both to give and seek forgiveness; an action that, though not always easy, is essential to our families and our journey with Christ to Heaven.
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!
