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It is impossible for two people to live together without being a source of mutual suffering, and as we cause others to suffer, it is but just that we should bear with their failings also and such a burden is light since Jesus Christ helps us to carry it.
Do not therefore be so lacking in sense, so unreasonable and so unchristian as to pretend that you should not have to suffer anything from your Brothers and Sisters. This would be truly asking a most unheard of and extraordinary miracle. Do not expect to see such a thing during the whole of your life."
- St. John Baptist de La Salle
(How do you put up relationship trials? Pray for the people you struggle to love. Ask the Spirit to show you how to love them this day.)
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Jon 3:1-10; Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 18-19
Lk 11:29-32
While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them,
“This generation is an evil generation;
it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it,
except the sign of Jonah.
Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites,
so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
At the judgment
the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation
and she will 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.
At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation
and condemn it,
because at the preaching of Jonah they repented,
and there is something greater than Jonah here.”
USCCB lectionary
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Reflection on the Scripture
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“Just as Jonah was a sign for the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be a sign for the present age.” —Luke 11:30
For modern-day readers of today’s Gospel, the sign of Jonah is that he spent three days buried in the belly of the large fish (Jon 2:1). After three days, the fish spit him alive onto the shore. Thus, Jonah prefigured Jesus’ three-day burial and subsequent Resurrection.
In today’s text, Jesus refers to Jonah being “a sign for the Ninevites” (Lk 11:30). The Old Testament book of Jonah makes no mention of Jonah telling the people of Nineveh about his “fish story.” In addition, Jonah despised Nineveh (see Jon 4:1-2). While he may have enjoyed prophesying their destruction, in his pride he likely wouldn’t have shared his humiliating experience with those he hated. Exactly how, then,
was Jonah “a sign for the Ninevites”?
From the standpoint of the Ninevites, Jonah’s sign would have been the prophetic words he spoke. To prophesy means simply to speak what God is speaking when He is speaking it. Jonah’s timely prophetic words carried the awesome convicting power of Almighty God. The immediate and total repentance of the Ninevites proved the power of prophecy.
Your words may be eloquent, but God’s prophetic words have the power. “The time is short” (1 Cor 7:29). Let’s spend the rest of our lives (1 Pt 4:2) speaking God’s words, not ours. His words spoken at the proper time change hearts (1 Thes 2:13; Heb 4:12-13). “Set your hearts on...the gift of prophecy” (1 Cor 14:1).
Prayer: Father, teach me “what to say and how to speak” (Jn 12:49). May I be a sign of Your power to the present generation.
Promise: “The people of Nineveh believed God.” —Jon 3:5
Presentation Ministries
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Growing in Inner Freedom: A Guide for Today
- by Philip St. Romain. Liguori Publ., 1986.
31. Share Your Talents
As generous distributors of God’s manifold grace, put your gifts at the service of one another, each in the measure he has received. (1 Peter 4:10).
An old saying has it that we can’t give what we don’t have, and we can’t keep what we don’t share. If we develop our talents and put them in the service of our dreams, we will find them growing and energizing us more fully. This is what the Lord meant when he said, “Those who have will get more until they grow rich, while those who have not will lose even the little they have” (Matthew 25:29).
Psychologist Abraham Maslow’s work on human motivation also confirms this point. Maslow pointed out that for people whose basic physical and belonging needs are met, self-actualization becomes the great life issue. In other words, a writer must write, a teacher must teach, a musician must make music, and an athlete must exercise if he or she is to be happy.
Unfortunately, most people have split lives: one in which they earn their money, and another in which they self-actualize. This is better than never exercising one’s uniqueness at all, but the ideal is surely that we earn our living doing the work that is closest to our hearts.
If we cannot exercise our talents at work, we should try to find an outlet that allows us to do so. Volunteer involvements in Church and service organizations provide rewarding experiences for millions. Here we should let our dreams point the way for us.
Suggested Practices
- Which of your talents is most fully exercised in your work? Which are most sorely neglected?
- Make a list of ways you can share your talents more fully. Start on that list today.
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