As I
read the story of Jonah and the whale that we hear in our first reading, I
thought of the youth that I visited last night during our night of religious
education classes. One of
the girls was asking Kris about how Jacob could wrestle with an angel, or about
the ladder that took Jacob up to heaven. Kris was
telling her students about how the Bible came into being, and about how some of the
stories in the Bible contain allegorical or metaphorical truth rather than
historical or literal truth. Most in
the Catholic faith would see the story of Jonah not as historical truth, but
rather as a story that shows how we can run from the calling that God has
chosen for us. It that
not so true in our lives, how we can try to flee from what God has chosen us,
even if he hits us with that message straight in the face time and time again. God
never gives up on us, just like he never gives up on Jonah. We can flee so far from God that it feels
like we are being tossed around the wave of the ocean, almost literally sometimes. Yet,
like Jonah spewed out of the belly of the whale, we can feel relief when God
rescues us as well. Sometimes, like some of the men I have ministered in prison, God can hit over
the head again and again, and the message still does not reach us.
I. We can only pray to God for his grace to see
the light and to answer his call.
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